Taking on a Child
by Lolly4Holly
Summary: AU: The Winchester Brother's take on more than they bargained for after responding to a hunter's distress call. Set around Seasons One and Two. Other Characters included are Bobby, John Winchester, Rufus and more. This is my first official upload for the Supernatural series. Sam, Dean and OFC. Not slash. COMPLETE.
1. Prologue

**Taking on a Child**

**Author:** Lolly4Holly

**Characters:** Dean, Sam, John Winchester. Bobby Singer and a few other Supernatural characters.

**Disclaimer:** This fan claims no ownership to any of the Supernatural characters, monsters or story lines. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I fully intend to give them back unharmed, (mostly).

**Summary:** The Winchester Brother's take on more than they bargained for after responding to a hunter's distress call. Set around season one or two, so no spoilers to the later seasons that I haven't actually seen yet.

**Author's Note:** Hello, Supernatural fans. This is my first official upload for the Supernatural series. I'm still halfway through writing it at the moment, but I wanted to start uploading to see what people thought. So don't worry, new chapters are always right around the corner. Thank you for reading, please let me know what you thought.

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**Prologue**

"But if it never stops and they just keep coming back, then what's the point in it all? Are you really making a difference or are you just as bad as them? You kill for a living. They kill for a living. It's just an endless cycle of killing, so what makes you better than them?"

Dean grabbed a shotgun from the back of his Impala, giving his younger brother a glare as the eight year old child continued to lecture him on his job. He didn't think he could take another hour of it, but they had finally reached their destination, ready to put an end to the angry spirits killing spree once and for all. He was ready to put a bullet between the eyes of the child they somehow ended up babysitting too, but he knew Sammy would never forgive him for that.

"You two stay here, I'm gonna go inside and check it out."

"Dean, no." Sam immediately protested, following his brother towards the chained gates of the old factory. "I'm not some kid that you can just tell to wait in the car."

"No," Dean cast his eyes towards the child poking through the hunting gear in the back of his car. "She is. Listen, Sammy," He took a step closer to his younger brother, whispering, "If her father's still alive, we have to find him. If not, we get her out of this life. Do you want her to grow up and be like us?"

"We're not so bad." Sam folded his arms across his chest, receiving a glare from his older brother. "Dad brought us up in this life and you've never stopped complaining about it."

"Sam, I don't have time to get into it with you right now." He motioned towards the factory in front of him. "Just... stay with Madison. If I'm not back in twenty minutes... wait longer." He warned his brother, receiving a smile in response.

"Dean." He called after his brother. "Be careful."

His big brother rolled his eyes, muttering, "Wuss," on his way into the factory.

Sam reluctantly returned to the car, prying Madison's curious fingers away from the knifes in the trunk, so he could close it up. He ushered her round to the back of the car, letting her climb inside, before he closed the door. "Does your father usually go off on hunts by himself?" He queried, sitting himself in the driver's seat, just in case he needed to rush to his brother's aid.

The child nodded her head slightly, combing her hair back from her face. It stretched just past her shoulders, starting to darken from her natural mousy blonde colour to a softer brown. "He told me that if he wasn't back in three days, I should call his friend, Carter. He's on a vampire hunt in Florida, so he called his friend, Bobby Singer."

"Then Bobby called us. My Dad used to go off on hunts of his own too. He was sometimes gone for weeks at a time." He sympathised with her. "It was just my brother and me most of the time. My brother raised me more than he ever did. Dean's been taking care of me a lot longer than my Dad ever did."

"Where's your Mom?" Madison climbed over the seats of the Impala, dropping into the passenger seat beside him. She pulled her knees close to her chest, giving him a curious look. "I never knew my Mom. I've seen pictures of her, but I don't know what she was like."

"Same." He agreed with her. "My Mom died when I was a baby. It's how my family got into hunting."

"Is that why Dean is always so uptight?"

"Yeah... maybe a little." He smiled at her, grabbing the duffel bag from behind him as he heard her stomach rumbling again. He searched through his clothes, handing her the last chocolate bar that he had been saving up. He handed it over to her, noticing bruises on her wrist as she reached out for it. She was wearing a pair of tattered jeans with holes in the knees and a dirty white t-shirt with a purple butterfly stitched into the fabric. On top of that she had on old navy blue hooded sweatshirt that looked way too big for her, but she didn't want to take it off.

Sam had only known her for the last fifteen hour drive after they rescued her, but he felt as though he already knew her already as he had lived through her childhood. Only he had his brother around to look out for him when his father went missing, she didn't have anybody with the disappearance of her father.

Madison finished off the candy bar within a few minutes, resting her head back against the chair as the two of them waited for Dean to return. It felt like hours had passed by, before Sam finally decided to check his phone.

"Sam, if this ghost is taking revenge on the people that killed him, why'd he take my Dad?" She curiously asked him.

"Sometimes ghosts can't distinguish the difference between someone who did wrong to them or someone that just happens to be around." Sam tried to explain to her, hoping her father didn't have anything to do with it. "Your father was trying to stop him, before he wiped out the rest of the Miller family. I guess the spirit saw him as a threat. Did your father ever teach you how to stop ghosts?"

"Iron, salt and burning the bones." She remembered. "What if the spirit is after Dean now? He's trying to stop it, so it could see him as a threat and take him out while we're sat out here. We should probably go in after him."

"Hey," Sam tried to stop her from climbing out of the car, quickly grabbing his gun from the glove compartment, before he hurried after her towards the chained gate that his brother had already climbed through. "Madison," He holstered his weapon, grabbing an iron bar from by the gate, before he squeezed through himself. He hated musty old factories, but he couldn't leave her to fend for herself in the final resting place of a vengeful spirit.

Things didn't look good when he found Dean's knife on the concrete floor. He continued through the factory with the iron bar trained out in front of him, following the eerie tingle down the back of his neck that his brother called instincts towards the most dangerous section of the factory.

"Madison." He spotted her creeping down the next hallway, putting his finger to his lips, before he ushered her towards him. "Don't go running off like that again." He grabbed the flash light from her hand, trading it for his brother's knife. "Hold it out like this." He curled her fingers around the handle of the knife, holding it out in front of her. "Stay behind me. Watch my back. We'll find Dean together."

He pulled her behind him, taking the lead with the light of the flash light in his hand. He checked behind him every so often to make sure she was still there, secretly wishing his brother was there to protect them.

He found the start of the summoning ritual in the next open area, feeling a chill as he spotted his brother's gun on the floor. None of the candles were lit, but the circle in the centre had been broken, so he guessed that the ritual had worked in summoning the angry spirit back to its resting place, but it couldn't contain the power of the spirit. He tried to tell his brother that it wouldn't be strong enough to hold the spirit, but he still saw him as his idiot brother.

"Take this." Sam placed his brother's shotgun in the child's hands, after checking that it still had salt rounds in it. He slowly moved the light of his flash light through the shadows of the room, noticing his ice cold breath as he breathed out. It felt like a hundred degrees outside, so the spirit was definitely here. "Stay back." He held the child behind him, quickly turning his head at the sound of a clattering noise. He turned the other way as soon as he heard a louder clattering noise, followed by the sudden advance of a shadowy spirit.

Sam swung for the ghost with the iron bar in his hands, splitting the shadowy figure in two, before it faded into nothing. He really hated it when they did that, but it bought him some time to try and figure out what to do. He couldn't swing at it all night and hope for the best.

He needed a plan.

"Madison." He had an idea, grabbing the canister of salt that his brother had left behind. He took the knife and gun from her hands, ditching them in his brother's duffel. He poured a decent amount of salt onto the ground in a full circle around her, placing the flash light in one of her hands and the iron bar in the other. "I just remembered that Hanson played the winning company baseball game. The ball was framed and put the bosses office as a remembrance to their victory." He motioned towards the office on the level up from them. "Spirits sometimes attach themselves to this plain with personal objects."

"You think he's attached to that?" Madison watched him searching through his brother's bag, finding lighter fluid and some matches.

"If it comes back, stay inside the circle. It can't pass through the salt." He wrapped her little fingers tightly around the iron rod. "If it comes at you, hit it with that. It won't stop it, but it'll slow it down. It'll take him a while to recharge, before he can come back. I've gotta go and burn the baseball, so we can find Dean and your Dad. I'll be right back. Just stay inside the circle, okay?"

Madison quickly nodded her head, gulping softly as he started to walk away from her.

Sam hurried up the metal staircase two at a time, seeing his breath as he reached the top. He held his brother's shotgun at the ready, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end as he made his way towards the office.

"Dean!" He screamed at the sight of his brother being throttled by the spirit. He didn't want to hurt his brother with the shotgun blast, so he flung a handful of salt at it instead.

The spirit dissipated into thin air, dropping Dean to his knees, coughing and spluttering to get his breath back. "Took you long enough." He growled, motioning towards the baseball in the cabinet. "Get it, quick. We have to... Sammy!"

The spirit materialised within seconds, flinging Sam into the wall. He grabbed his throat to start choking the younger brother, leaving Dean to scramble across the room for the baseball. He smashed the cabinet open with his elbow, drenching the baseball in lighter fluid while his brother was gasping for breath across the room.

"Hey!" Dean shouted as soon as he had a match lit, holding it directly over the baseball. "Say goodnight, bitch!" He dropped the match a second later, watching as the shadowy spirit began to take on a more human form, before it released Sam, burning up from his chest out.

He never got tired of watching spirits do that.

Sam gasped for breath as soon as it was gone, giving his brother a frown. "Nice. You couldn't have saved me before you did that?"

"You were distracting it for me." Dean clapped his hand over his younger brother's shoulder, giving him a smile. "Quit your whining, Sammy. It's over. I'm hungry." He rubbed his empty stomach. "Let's go get something to eat."

His younger brother rolled his eyes, rubbing his sore throat as he collected up his things from the office floor. He paused the second he noticed a fog watch hiding in the dust beneath the desk, recognising it from the photo that Madison had of her father. "Hey Dean," He picked it up by its chain, holding it up so his brother could see it. "He was here. Do you think he followed the same trail as us to find Hanson's spirit?"

"Isn't that why we followed this trail in the first place?" Dean grabbed the watch from his hand, brushing the dust from the clock face with his thumb. "I'm not going on another wild goose chase to find another missing father." He quickly warned his brother, hearing a scream coming from the factory floor. "What was that?"

"Madison!" Sam pushed his brother out of the way, hurrying down the stairs as fast as he could. He rushed straight towards the rolling flash light on the floor, directing it towards the salt circle he had left her in, only it was broken. "Madison!" He immediately started searching the room.

"You brought her in here with you?" Dean saw the second salt circle that wasn't there before, collecting up his duffel from the floor. "We took the spirit out, so what's the deal here? Are we dealing with something else entirely or is Hanson's spirit too strong to be taken out the usual way?"

"He burnt up, Dean."

"Fake out?" His brother suggested, leading the way to start their search. "How'd this guy Hanson die anyway?"

"See, maybe if you listened to me every once in a while..."

"Details, Sam!" He snapped him out of his whinging.

Sam glared at him, anxiously scanning the factory for any sign of the child they had lost. "He was sleeping with one of his colleagues wife's. David Miller's . . . his first target. His colleagues said a fight broke out in the factory, Hanson got himself caught in some of the machinery and was crushed to death. Factory closed down pending the investigation, then the employees started dying one by one. Hanson held them all responsible since they didn't stop David and helped him to cover it up as a workplace accident."

"So it happened here?" Dean looked around at the machinery, wondering if they could get it to work. "Crushed to death?"

"Yeah, what remains they did find were cremated."

"If the baseball was a fake out, then there must still be something left of him here. He was crushed in one of these?" He knelt down to take a closer look inside the machine, shivering at the thought of what could be left inside.

"Blood?" Sam directed the light of his flash light towards the old brownish stain near one of the machines. "We can't burn this place to the ground with Madison and her father still in it."

"So find them." Dean looked around for anything that would light better than the metal machinery and concrete floor, finding some wooden pallets stacked against the wall. "Hurry, Sam."

"Madison!" Sam took off running through the large machinery, eventually finding her passed out on the floor at the end of the factory floor. "Madison?" He whipped around as he heard a scuffling sound, hoping it was Dean, but no such luck.

The even angrier spirit flung him away from the child, bashing him against one of the heavy machines. He shot him back in the other direction, winding Sam's chest against a heavy pipe, before he let him fall to the floor.

Sam had a moment to try and struggle to his feet, before he was flung into the air again, making him hate this particular spirit more than usual. He waited until he was back on the ground, before he played dead. He could feel where the spirit was from the sudden cold breeze over his shoulder. He grabbed the salt shotgun as soon as he was sure, firing off two rounds into its chest, scattering his black ashes it into thin air once again.

He just hoped that he would stay that way.

"Madison." He crawled to his feet towards her, brushing her hair aside to take a look at the cut she had on her head. He figured she'd survive as he had suffered through worse injuries than that at her age. He lifted her into his arms, spotting a body laying in the distance. He wanted to get back to Dean so they could get out of there and finally destroy Hanson's angry spirit, but he had to know who it was.

"Sammy c'mon, hurry up." Dean emptied the last of the fuel over the wooden pallets, not even noticing the look on his brother's face as he searched for a lighter in his jacket pockets. "I found a gas line running directly to the machines." He pointed above them. "We can take it out on our way out, send the whole building up in flames to make sure." He grabbed his duffel, spotting the fog watch in his brother's hand. "Did you find him?"

Sam gave him a slight nod, holding the child securely against his side, making sure that she was still out. "He's dead. Crushed. Hanson killed him."

Dean anxiously licked his bottom lip, before he tossed the lighter over his shoulder. He hurried his brother out of the building, taking apart one of the gas lines near the entrance, slowly filling the building with gas. He stopped to look from a safe distance as the fire consumed every inch of gas, finally blowing the top off the building like a volcano.

The Winchester brothers ditched their equipment in the trunk of the Impala, exchanging a look as the fire continued to roar in the distance. They had been chasing the ghost of their own father for months now, only to stumble across another hunter's kid in the same boat as them. They didn't want to believe that their own father had suffered the same fate as Madison's, but the trail to find him was as cold as ice at the moment.

"Don't say it, Sam."

"Dean... we can't just leave her." Sam ignored his brother, looking at the child in question sleeping on the back seat of the Impala. "She doesn't have anybody anymore." He knew that the right thing to do would be to find her somewhere safe to live an ordinary childhood that they never had, but he didn't want to abandon her like her father did for a hunt. "We can train her, like Dad trained us."

"You really think that's a good idea?" Dean cocked an eyebrow in his brother's direction. "You complain about how Dad raised us all the time, now you want to do the same to this kid?"

"Being a hunter isn't a job, Dean. You always treat it like it is, but it's a way of life. Once you know what's out there, you can't go back to being ordinary. She knows too much already. Bobby said her father was a great hunter and look what happened to him. There's probably tons of freaks out there that are gonna want some revenge. We've had to deal with that our whole lives, we could at least prepare her the same way Dad did with us."

"When Dad gave you that same speech, you ran out on us for Stanford." He reminded his younger brother. "Now you're giving it to me for some kid that we barely even know? It's a mistake, Sammy." Dean watched his brother making his way round to the passenger side of the car, giving out a heavy sigh as he really didn't want to take on the responsibility of a child.

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**Thank you, please remember to leave me a review if you liked it.**

**~ Holly**


	2. Chapter One: Child Endangerment

**Chapter One - Child Endangerment**

"C'mon . . . five minutes."

Checking around the room to make sure that it was really empty, Sam opened the window a little wider, before he lifted eight year old, Madison through it. He followed her lead through the motel room she had been staying in with her father, grabbing a backpack for her to stuff her things into. His older brother, Dean had no idea where they went, so he had to be quick. They had already been on the road with Madison for the past three days, so he thought it was about time that they took her back to the last place she called home to at least get a change of clothes or something that was familiar to her.

"Looks clear." He shut off his flash light, handing the bag over to her. "Grab some clothes. I'm gonna look around." He gave her a smile, before he made his way across the hall to her father's bedroom. It looked pretty ordinary, but when he pulled open the closet and pushed aside all the clothes, he found the usual hunter gear, maps and research. He collected them all up, taking any other weapons he found under the mattress and stashed away in cupboards around the house.

"Check the freezer." Madison jumped down from the table, after successfully zipping up her backpack overflowing with clothes and a ragged brown teddy bear tucked under her arm.

Sam pulled open the freezer door, smirking at the sight of the salt shotgun rounds stashed away in there. "Hey, I forgot to give you something of your father's." He knelt down in front of her, pulling the fog watch out of his jacket pocket. "I think he would have wanted you to have it."

Madison brushed her fingers across the inscription on the back, reading 'Until the end of time.'

"My Mom gave it to him before I was born." She popped open a button on her jacket, stuffing it inside. "I could just stay here." She suggested. "Dean doesn't like me very much anyway."

"You can't stay here anymore, Madison. Your Dad wouldn't want you to be alone. Dean wouldn't want you to be alone either. It's not safe. C'mon, we should get back." Sam threw the rest of the salt shotgun rounds into his bag, taking Madison out of the motel room the way they came in to avoid the manager.

He gave her a moment to say goodbye to the place that she had called home for the past four months or so, before they got back to the motel they had been staying at, finding Dean still fast asleep. He put his finger to his lips as they tiptoed back inside, getting Madison set up in his bed to sleep, while he took the couch.

The next morning, they packed up their things, leaving for Wyoming. The unusual newspaper reports from the area had them convinced that a shapeshifter had taken up residence there. Sam didn't want to go since there was no evidence to say that their father was there, making the car deathly quiet the whole way as the Winchester brothers still weren't talking.

"Lock pick?" Dean held his hand out to his brother, catching the kit as his brother threw it to him. They had finally arrived in Wyoming, deciding to check out the first victims house according to the newspapers. The door was sealed up with police crime tape, which was easy to cut through, but the lock took a little longer to get open. "Geez... shoulda hired a maid."

Sam stepped through the door, taking a look at the mess in the front room. "Papers said his remains of skin, teeth and hair were found in there." He continued through to the kitchen, finding more blood splatter. "What exactly are we looking for here?"

"Anything that points to the shapeshifter theory." He glanced over his shoulder at the car, making sure that Madison had stayed put. "What do you think you're doing, Sam? Do you really think that fetching teddy bears is going to make it all better? She's just a kid."

"Yeah well, I don't see you do anything for her."

"We should have ditched her at Bobby's or the nearest foster home three counties back." Dean argued, abandoning his search of the room to look at his brother. "This... what you're doing... taking her on hunts, training her... it's ridiculous. She's just a kid."

"We were just kids when Dad started us on all of this." Sam pointed out to him, looking at the pictures pinned to the fridge door.

"Would you stop bringing Dad up? I loved the guy, but maybe he wasn't exactly thinking clearly about raising his kids into hunting demons. We were just kids, Sam. We lost our Mom and our father was more interested in finding the thing that killed her then raising his kids right." Dean finally let his true feelings out, giving his younger brother a confused look as he continued to stare at the photos on the fridge. "What?"

"This guy..." He pointed to the one in the middle. "This is his house. He was the first to die. These three here, died within a few days. These two on the end are still alive... as far as I know. Dean, these are all the victims."

"So the killings aren't random? Shapeshifter with a grudge." Dean sighed, moving the fridge magnets off the photo, so he could pick it up. "I freaking hate shapeshifters." He shuddered, stuffing the photo into his pocket. "We have to ditch the kid. A shapeshifter's too dangerous."

"Ditch her where? We don't exactly know anyone in Wyoming, Dean. She's staying with us."

"She has the chance to be a regular kid. The longer she spends with us, the more corrupted she's gonna get. Hunters have short life spans as it is." Dean tried to put it simply for his younger brother. "She's just a kid, Sam. Why are you trying to force this on her like Dad forced it on us? We didn't have a choice, she does."

"Following the patterns of the murders, someone else is gonna die tonight. We don't have time to stand around and argue about this. She's staying with us, while we work this case." His younger brother stormed out of the house, making his way back to the Impala. He ditched his weapons back in the trunk, slumping back into the passenger seat, waiting for his brother.

"So where to?" Dean finally returned to the car, not liking this plan for a second.

"Morgue. We need to see the bodies."

"We can't take a kid into the morgue with us." Dean motioned over his shoulder, hoping Sam wouldn't subject her to that so early on. "Let's find a motel, ditch our stuff then make our way over to the morgue. We've still got a few hours left. We just have to find the remaining two people in this photo, find what's killing them then kill it ourselves. C'mon Sam, we've done this a hundred times before."

"Alright," He snapped, motioning to the road. "Let's get going then."

Madison stayed quiet in the back of the car, waiting patiently in the back, while Dean booked them a motel room. She had been through the same process before with her father, making her miss him even more. She grabbed her bag as soon as they had a room, following the Winchester brothers inside.

The walls were a sickly pea green colour, spreading out across the floor and furniture against all of the walls. It wasn't overly light, but she could see straight through to the bland kitchen to the two large double beds in the middle of the room with spotted green sheets. The lamps either side of them were red and the pillows had a tartan strip running across each side. It didn't really match the rest of it, but she could already tell that the motel owner had no taste from the style of the curtains against the two windows.

Dean ditched his duffel onto the first bed, taking a look around the motel that would be home for the next few days. He handed his younger brother some cash from his pocket, expecting him to get them some food.

"Don't forget the pie." He warned him, taking a seat on the end of his bed.

He waited until his brother was really gone, before he turned to look at the child curiously looking at the paintings on the walls. She had her backpack high on her shoulders, clutching her teddy bear tightly in her little arms. He didn't understand why his brother saw just another hunter when he looked at her. She was still practically a baby and needed to be protected from things like this.

"Seen one motel room, seen em all, right?" He finally broke the silence, talking to her directly for the first time in three days. He had been avoiding her since her father died, not wanting to admit that his own father might have suffered the same fate. "We can stay here for a few days, if you want. I remember how it was moving from place to place all the time."

"Because of your Dad?"

Dean nodded his head, ushering her closer towards him. He rolled up the long sleeve of her sweatshirt, checking on the graze she had on her elbow. "It's almost healed. Does it hurt?" She shook her head from side to side, making her pigtails whip around her shoulders. She had been tying her hair herself over the past few days, but she hadn't exactly got the hang of it yet. "You can take your bag off if you want."

Madison turned as he lifted the heavy bag off her shoulders, setting it down on the bed beside him. "What are you hunting?"

"Well, we think it's a shapeshifter. Did your Dad ever come up against a shapeshifter?" He caught a slight head shake from her, before he pulled out his father's journal to show her the lore on shapeshifter's. He tried to leave out as much gory details as possible, telling her the basic weaknesses should she ever run into one.

"How can you tell it's a shapeshifter?" Madison queried, clutching her teddy bear tightly in her arms.

"Usually from the way they shed the old skin. We dealt with one before in Missouri that was framing men for the murders of their wives or girlfriends. We found it's lair in the sewer with piles of the old skin, hair and bones. It can copy anyone it sees, so it's kinda hard to tell when you're looking at them. Their eyes have a white glare to them in a video camera, animals can detect them and they're allergic to silver, but that's all we know so far."

"Are they always bad?"

Dean shrugged his shoulders, closing up his father's diary on his lap. "All the ones I've met have been bad. Demons are demons as far as I'm concerned. Every one of those sons of bitches deserves to put down." He searched his pockets as his cell started to ring, snapping it open to answer it. "Sam, what's up? They all out of pie."

"No, I saw sirens. There's been a attack. A few blocks over from the motel. Dean, bring the ID's."

Dean snapped his phone shut, replacing his father's journal to his bag. He pulled out his spare cell phone from the side pocket, handing it over to the child in front of him. "Lock the door behind me. There's salt and iron in my bag. Don't open the door for anyone other than Sam or me." He warned her the same way his father used to warn him every night he went on a hunt, feeling a shiver running down his spine as said it.

He waited outside until he heard the click of the lock, before he left to meet his brother at the next crime scene.

Madison scrambled onto the bed that Dean had claimed, taking a peek inside his bag. She found the canister full of salt, various loose bullets in the bottom and every kind of knife she could have imagined. The bag was basically the same set up as her father's, only his duffel wasn't so ragged. He could never hold down a full time job since he was always on the move, but he worked as a mechanic when he could, spending most of his money on his beloved truck or new supplies for hunting.

His truck was with Bobby Singer now and the last of his supplies had been added to the trunk of the Winchesters as though the man never even existed.

"Here." Dean handed his brother one of their police ID's from his jacket, making sure that it had his picture in it, before he let it go. "Are you sure this is our thing?" He caught sight of the young woman being wheeled out of the store on a gurney.

"Victim says she was attacked by her clone, while she was trying her dress on in the back." Sam rolled his eyes as his brother's eyes immediately lit up. "Dean, c'mon... focus. Cops thinks she's crazy, but it looks like our shapeshifter was here."

"And she saw herself?"

"Yeah." Sam followed his brother's gaze, realising he had spotted her clone stood in the crowd of looky-loos at the edge of the crime tape. "She's one of the girls from the photo. What do we do? We can't shoot her in front of all these people. Dean." He hissed his name, but his brother had already slipped under the crime tape as if he owned the place. He flashed his badge at the officers on the scene, strolling right up to the woman, scaring her off the second they made eye contact.

Dean forced his way through the crowd, chasing her down the alley. He couldn't even keep up with her for five seconds and she was in heels. "Son of a bitch." He reached the end of the alley, panting as he watched her climbing up the fire escape like a bionic woman. "Damn it."

"You lost her?" Sam came running up behind him, looking up as his brother pointed up the fire escape.

"Son of a bitch is fast. She's probably going to the hospital to finish the job she started."

"I'll go." Sam holstered his weapon. "No offence, Dean, but you don't exactly have the subtle touch. Find out everything you can about the other girl in the photo. She's probably our shapeshifter if she's the only one left."

"Man, why me?"

* * *

A few hours later, Dean returned to their motel room, nodding to his brother sat at the table, before he cast his eyes towards their beds. He frowned at the child who was sprawled out on his bed of all places, holding her teddy bear close with her thumb in her mouth as she slept.

"Son of a... Did you get a chance to talk to our victim at the hospital?" He asked is younger brother, dropping the keys to the Impala on the table.

"Yeah, she only saw herself." Sam tapped away at the keys on his laptop, continuing with his research on the college friends. "She was supposed to meet her friend, Ella for a shopping trip, but she never showed up. She thinks something's been after her for weeks. What'd you find out?"

"I think we might have a killer among friends situation here. Ella used to be a fat girl." Dean playfully raised his eyebrows, showing him the old picture of the young woman. "She might be our shapeshifter. Her friends and family report that she practically lost the weight overnight. And get this, she was adopted. All her friends went off to successful colleges, leaving her at home with dear old adopted Mom. She managed to magically lose the weight, but she couldn't make, Tray Thompson like her."

"What?" Sam finally glanced round at his brother, frowning as he realised he had a heart shaped diary in his hands. "You stole her diary?"

"Yeah. Her Mom let me take a look around her bedroom. Everything's in here." Dean dropped to the end of the other bed, reading through another page. "I think she's definitely our shapeshifter. She talks about how she discovered what she could do and how she was going to make her so called friends pay for everything they did to her." He flipped through a few more pages, before he tossed it over his shoulder. "Now we just have to find her and put a silver bullet through her heart."

"Have you still got some?"

"Yeah." He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, looking at Madison asleep on the next bed. "How long has she been out?"

Sam shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. She was out when I got back. Did Ella's Mom give you any clue as to how we can find her?"

"No, but she's probably going to hang around the hospital to finish the job she started on that boyfriend stealing whore, Cassie." He directly quoted her diary again, pulling his gun out of his jacket to check that it was loaded. His favourite custom engraved 45 calibre colt pistol with ivory grips, given to him by his own father after he shot the bottle tops off every target at age nine. "I'll take first shift at the hospital. Make sure the kid eats something as soon as she wakes up."

"The kid has a name. And she just lost her Dad, you could try being a little more sympathetic to her."

"I'm sympathetic." Dean grabbed the blanket from the end of the bed, unravelling it across the sleeping child. "Just make sure she eats something, okay? She wouldn't eat that sandwich you gave her earlier because you didn't cut the crusts off." He pointed out to him, collecting up the keys to his Impala. "Shame on you, Sam."

"C'mon man, how am I supposed to know that?"

Dean grinned at his younger brother, making his way out to his car. He made his way straight over to the hospital, tempted to stop by the cafeteria from the scent of the home cooked food being served behind the counter, but he had a job to do. He found the ward that Cassie was being treated on, finding an officer posted outside the room, only the man had fallen asleep on the job.

"Figures." Dean rolled his eyes, pushing the door to the patient's room open.

He couldn't see her right away because the curtain was closed around her bed, but he could hear a strange tapping noise. He pushed his jacket aside to hold the handle of his gun in his waistband, slowly reaching out to grab the curtain in front of him. He swung it open in one swift motion, covering his hand over his mouth at the sight of what was left of boyfriend stealing, Cassie.

The tapping noise he heard was her blood dripping onto the floor. She looked as though she had been mauled by a wild animal and no one had even noticed.

"Sammy, it's me." He got through to his brother's voicemail outside of the hospital. "Ella got to Cassie. This chicks seriously hyped up on PCP or something. I'm gonna head over to her Mom's place, see if she shows up. Call me if you find anything."

Dean left on another reckless solo mission, leaving Sam in charge of babysitting at the motel.

"Can you eat just one slice of pizza for me?" Sam took the pizza box over to Dean's bed, setting it down in front of the child. "Just one, you haven't eaten anything in a while. You've gotta keep your strength up, Madi." He held the box a little closer to her, smiling as she picked up one piece. She peeled off the pepperonis first, flicking them into the box. She took off the chillies and things next, leaving the pizza crust and cheese. "You don't like pizza?"

Madison shook her head slightly. "I don't like pepperoni."

"You're not allergic to anything, are you?" He decided to check, just in case they fed her something by accident. She shook her head, licking her lips as some of the melted cheese missed her mouth. "Here..." He grabbed one of the napkins from behind him, wiping her sticky little fingers for her. "You know, when my brother and me were little, we used to live off spaghetti Os and cap'n crunch."

"Pizza and peanut butter jelly sandwiches." The child related to him. "Did you know my Daddy?"

"No, not really. Bobby said he met him a few times on some hunts, but they didn't know each other that well. The thing about hunters is that they're kinda solitary." Sam tried to explain to her, moving on to sharpen the next knife from his bag, now that he had gotten her to eat something. "My Dad never really took me out with him when I was a kid. Not solo anyway, Dean was always there to watch my back. When I was about your age, he either left me with Dean in some dingy hotel room like this or with Bobby. He wanted me to hunt with him and Dean, but I left for college."

"Why'd you come back?" Madison gave him a curious look.

"Dean." He sighed softly, shoving his knife into his belt. "He came back for me after our father went missing. I finally got hunting out of my life and he's sucked me back into it, because he doesn't want to do it alone. I'm starting to think that we're never gonna find our Dad though."

Checking the time on his watch, Sam anxiously looked at his phone, wondering why his brother hadn't checked in with him yet.

"Hey Madi, put your shoes on, we've gotta go look for my brother." Sam instructed, collecting up his things from the bed.

Madison crawled towards the edge of the bed, leaving sticky pizza handprints as she climbed off the bed. She hurried across the room for her sneakers, sitting herself on the floor to pull them on. They had velcro straps to them, so she didn't have to ask Sam to help her with them.

"Here." Sam handed her one of the sharpened knifes. "It won't kill a shapeshifter, but you can hurt it with that. Tuck it into your belt."

Madison tucked the knife into the belt of her jeans, resting her t-shirt behind it. She still had on the same tattered jeans, but she switched her butterfly t-shirt for a long sleeved navy blue one just like Sam's. She followed him out to the car, taking the passenger seat rather than the back, since it was just the two of them. She stayed in the car while Sam went to speak with Ella's mother, finding out that she had directed his brother to her father's closed down art studio, where Ella liked to go after work.

Sam cautiously pulled up outside the building, seeing a flickering light inside. He grabbed a gun from the duffel, holding the door open for Madison to slide out of the car, before they both made their way towards the building.

He crouched below one of the dirty windows, slowly taking a peek inside. He could see various candles lit all around the trashed studio inside, along with his brother tied to a chair. He ducked as soon as he spotted another figure in the room with him, hearing her muffled voice as she spoke to his brother.

"This isn't personal, Dean. I've got nothing against you personally. Or your brother. I just wanted to get on with my life. You're the ones sticking your noses in where they don't belong." Ella shouted at him, turning to primp her hair in the shattered mirror against the wall.

"If you're gonna keep talking my ears off, you might as well just kill me now, bitch."

Ella glared him in the mirror, turning on her heels to slap him square across the face for that remark. "You know, maybe I've got this all wrong, Dean. Maybe I should take it personally and wipe out that little brother of yours?" She grabbed the collar to his jacket, examining him like a science experiment. "Might be fun to take on being you for a while. Shame about the packaging, but that Sammy's a real treat. I'm gonna enjoy tearing him up, piece by piece."

While his older brother flinched in his restraints from another strike to the face, Sam found a way into the back of the studio, sneaking inside with Madison behind him. He gave a signal to her to wait, while he crept out of the shadows with his gun drawn.

"Step away from my brother!" He ordered, surprising both, Ella and Dean.

"Sammy, nice of you to join the party." Ella took a slight step away from her prisoner, playfully raising her hands at her sides in a surrender pose.

Before he had the chance to pull the trigger, she appeared at his side, smashing him into the wall. She cracked his arm over her knee in the next split second, making him drop his gun. He tried to swing at her but she moved so fast, all he hit was air.

"Shoot her, Sam!" Dean helplessly struggled in his restraints, watching his brother being beaten by the super fast shapeshifter.

"Don't take this the wrong way," She laughed as she smacked him across the jaw, grabbing a handful of his hair as he struggled to get up from the floor. "But you fight like a girl." She kicked him in the face with her heel, before she dragged him across the floor by the collar of his shirt towards the shards of mirror on the ground.

"Sam!" His older brother tried desperately to break free from his restraints, squinting the second he saw a shadowy figure in the distance. "Madison?" He made sure that Ella was preoccupied, before he ushered her over. "Sam should not have brought you here."

Madison pulled the knife from her belt, ignoring his stubbornness to cut him free from the ropes holding him down. He snatched the knife from her to do his other arm himself, since he was stronger and needed to get to his brother. He pushed her aside as soon as he was free, running for his brother, before Ella slit his throat.

"Ahh, you are gonna pay for that you jerk!" Ella held the slash to her arm from his knife, stabbing his younger brother's arm with a piece of glass, before she took him down.

The shapeshifter held her hands tightly around Dean's throat while he was on the ground, digging her talon claw nails into him as she tried to choke the life out of him. He tried to pry her hands away from him to breathe, but she was too strong. He looked around for anything he could use, but his gun was clear across the room. The knife was just a few inches out of his reach and his brother wasn't doing too well after his head had hit the table.

It was hopeless.

He heard a piercing gunshot sound a few seconds later, seeing blood gushing from a hole that had appeared in Ella's head. He felt the talons around his throat becoming looser as she struggled to her feet, stumbling around in her heels, before a second shot was fired.

Still gasping for breath, he managed to tilt his head back before the next shot left the gun, widening his eyes at the sight of Madison wielding his gun. The eight year old squeezed her eyes tightly shut as she pulled the trigger a few more times, finally piercing Ella's heart with one of the silver bullets.

Dean watched the shapeshifter fall down, making sure she was really dead, before he rolled himself over. He left his brother to get himself up, while he cautiously made his way over to the shooter, gently prying the gun from her little hands.

"It's okay, it's okay..." He set the gun down on the floor, gently reaching his arms out to her to hug her. She hesitantly took a step closer to him, dropping her little head to his shoulder. It was something he had always wanted his own father to do so many times when he was a kid, but his old man was always more concerned with the job then making sure that his boys were okay.

* * *

**End of first chapter. I forgot to mention from the start that this would be an AU (alternate universe) story, but the characters, Sam and Dean will pretty much be the same as they are from seasons one and two. I hope you've enjoyed the story so far.**

**Thank you for reading, please review!**

**~ Holly**


	3. Chapter Two: Babysitting Troubles

**Chapter Two - Babysitting Troubles**

"Okay enough, Sam." Leaning on the hood of his beloved Impala, Dean glared at his younger brother stood beside the open passenger side door. "I'm not doing this with you anymore. There is nothing okay about bringing an eight year old on a werewolf hunt. It's too dangerous. She's just a kid."

"Yeah, a kid that saved your ass a couple of weeks ago."

"What is wrong with you?" He snapped, screwing up the map that they had laid out on the hood. "When did you stop giving a crap about a kid? You used to bitch and complain when Dad dragged us all over the place to hunt the butt uglys that haunt this world. You couldn't wait to get away from it all; live out a normal life with all your college friends. You come back and you suddenly want to drag an eight year old into this world? Why?"

"She's a hunter, like us."

"No she isn't. Her _father_ was a hunter." Dean corrected him. "And in case you've forgotten, he's dead. She's just a kid. She carries a teddy bear everywhere and sucks her thumb when she sleeps. She is _not_ a hunter. She's still practically a baby, Sam, and she's gonna get herself killed, especially if you keep dragging her along to every hunt."

"So, what do you want to do with her, Dean? Leave her on the roadside, have her hitch a ride across the county to Bobby's. We're here now, we might as well finish the job."

Dean took a step closer to his younger brother, looking directly into his eyes. "Man, I don't even know who you are anymore. You can finish the job solo. I'll take her back to Bobby's myself." He decided that it was the safest option for Madison at this point, grabbing his duffel to pack up a few things.

"You're gonna leave me to handle a werewolf on my own. Really?" Sam looked at him surprised, actually feeling a little bit excited about his first solo hunt. "And you're leaving me the Impala?"

"No." He threw the bag at Sam, showing him that it was his things he had packed into the bag. "She's coming with me. You can hitch a ride back."

"Dean, this is ridiculous." Sam ditched his bag back in the car. "I'm not saying we send her out there alone to deal with these things. I know it's dangerous, I'm not an idiot. I'm just saying that we should train her, so she's prepared. Do you think the monsters that we deal with everyday care that she's just a kid? Her father was a hunter, which means she's cursed, just like us."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He frowned at his younger brother.

"You know exactly what it means, Dean, so don't pretend you don't. They don't care if she's just a kid. She's a hunters kid, just like we were. Dad left us alone so many times. You think I don't remember you staying up all night, loading guns, sharpening blades, constantly checking the windows and doors? You were on edge all the time as a kid, because of how Dad raised us. We were just kids when he left us alone to fend for ourselves. He's done it again and you're still defending the man, Dean. When are you gonna see him for the man he really is?"

Dean sighed softly, realising he wasn't going to win this argument either. He angrily slammed the door to his car, snatching up the crumpled map from the dirt. He wanted to defend his father, but after so many months on the road, he was starting to lose faith that they'd ever find him.

Leaving his older brother to his tantrum, Sam made his way into the gas station they were parked outside of, grabbing some snack foods for their trip. He paid for them at the counter, stopping by the rest rooms beside it to see if Madison was ready to go yet. The gas station didn't have separate ladies and men's rooms, so he walked right in, finding her open backpack on the sink counter.

"Madi?" Sam checked the doors to the two separate stalls, finding them both empty. He immediately took off running back to the car, hoping she had just forgotten her bag, but Dean was the only one there. "Dean, where is she?"

"I thought she was in..." Dean saw the bag in his brother's hand, dropping the map to run back to the bathroom his brother just came from. He searched every inch of it, before he went through the store, starting to feel his heart racing with panic as there was no sign of her. "Damn it Sam, where is she?"

"Dean." He pointed up, making him look at the surveillance camera right outside the gas station. He ran back to the car to grab the first police ID he could get his hands on, showing it to the guy in the store so they could get a look at the footage.

"C'mon Sammy, hurry it up." Dean leant over his shoulder, watching him fast forwarding through the footage on a regular VCR in the back of the store. The film wasn't exactly the best quality since it was in black and white and all grainy, but they could just about make out their car pulling up, Madison leaving them to use the rest room and them arguing by the car. "There." He tapped his brother on the shoulder. "Play it, c'mon."

"I am . . . jerk." He muttered, using the damaged buttons to play the tape.

Dean leant forwards a little more, watching Madison catching the last part of their argument, before she decided to take off on her own while they were distracted. "Bitch."

"Dean, she's just a kid."

"I meant you." He slapped his brother's head, hurrying back through the store to get to his car. "C'mon, hurry it up. She can't of got far." He climbed into the driver's seat, starting up the engine while his brother collected up their things from the hood. He put his foot down before Sam had even sat down, receiving a scowl from his brother after he managed to get in the moving vehicle.

"Do you have to go so fast? You could hit her or something."

"I'm not gonna hit her." Dean scowled back at his brother, anxiously checking the road and empty fields around them. "We've gotta get her out of this life, Sam. Can you not see that she's just a kid? She hears us arguing about her and takes off. Anything could happen to her out here."

"So you still don't think that she's safer with us?"

"No." His brother rolled his eyes. "Our lives are the complete opposite of safe, Sam. What makes you think that any part of our lives is safe for an eight year old? She needs parents, a proper house, school, friends her own age and a father that's gonna protect her from stuff like this."

"You mean all the stuff that we never had?" Sam realised why his brother was trying to push this.

"We had a Dad, Sam. He did the best he could." His older brother sighed softly, wishing their father had been there for them a little more. He still remembered what it was like to have a real father, before all the demons and monsters, but Sam never got to experience that side of the man.

He envied him a little for that as he never really lost that loving, caring father. He grew up with the drill sergeant, never knowing what he was like before everything went bad.

"There she is." Sam pointed her out halfway down the road, smiling slightly as she still had her bear in her hands. "Dean, slow it up. Dean!" He shouted at his brother as he slammed on the brakes right in front of her, before he stormed out of the car.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Dean caught up to her, making Madison freeze on the spot as he shouted at her like a father figure. "You can't ever go off like that on your own. Do you know how many weirdoes there are out here? It's dangerous. This isn't a game, Madison. Monsters and demons aside, there's bad people in this world. You think you can handle it because you took out one shapeshifter? You're just a kid."

"Dean." Sam tried to get his brother to back off, feeling a shiver down his spine as he sounded just like their father when they were growing up.

"Get in the car." Dean ordered, making her jump as he pointed to it. "Now!"

Madison didn't dare defy his order.

She climbed straight into the back of the Impala, clutching her teddy bear tightly against her chest as Dean pushed the door shut behind her. He glared at his brother a second later, pushing past him to get back to the car, before he gave him another lecture.

Nobody dared to speak a word for the rest of the drive after Dean's outburst.

Leaving Madison in the Impala, the Winchester brothers searched the woods for the cave the locals had described as a possible hideout for their resident monster.

They took on the werewolf by themselves, piercing it's heart with a silver knife, before it did any real damage to them. They looked over one another to make sure that the other was okay, still not speaking a word as they got on with disposing the body of the werewolf in the way they were accustomed.

"You should talk to her, Dean." Sam handed a pack of matches over to his brother, letting him do the honours. "Back there, you sounded like Dad."

"You think it's okay for her to run off like that?"

"Of course not, but you don't want her to be terrified of you like we were of Dad."

Dean immediately rolled his eyes at his younger brother, wishing he would stopping bringing their old man up. "I'll talk to her later, okay? We're heading back to Bobby's after this. He might have found something new and it'd be good for her to stay in one place for a while. If she's staying with us for now, we should think about getting her into a school."

Sam smiled at his older brother, standing back as he finally flicked a match onto the wood they had piled around the werewolf's body. "You better be careful man, she's gonna be calling you Papa Dean soon. I mean, if we keep her."

His brother responded with a glare. "She's not a puppy, Sam." He stuffed the matches into his pocket, collecting up his duffel to leave. He found Madison still sat in the back of his car with her feet up on the seat, flipping through the book she had rested against her legs. "Hey," He leant against the frame of the open window. "Are you hungry?"

Madison nodded her head, ditching the book onto the seat beside her. "What are you burning?" She curiously asked him.

"The werewolf. They turn human again as soon as they're dead. You don't have to burn them, but our Dad always did. He said it's more respectful then leaving them to rot and it saves us having to come back later to deal with their angry spirit."

Dean pulled the door open, kneeling down to Madison's level.

"Listen Madi, you can't ever go off on your own like that again, okay? You can stay with us, but you're gonna have to follow my rules to stay safe. The world we live in is dangerous. Hunting is dangerous. I'm hard on you because I'm just trying to keep you safe."

Sam stood back a moment, watching his brother playfully fist bumping, Madison's little hand after their discussion. "Are we ready to go?" He finally joined them by the car.

"Yeah." His brother straightened up, dusting down the dirt from his jeans. "Let's go get something to eat." He climbed into the driver's seat, giving his brother a moment to ditch their equipment back into the trunk, before he took off towards the nearest bar with restaurant that he could find. He'd normally start the evening by canvassing the bar for a companion for the night. but he went straight in to order some food, picking a booth away from the crowds to sit down with Madison.

"All werewolves used to be human." Sam continued to answer her questions. "Or at least half human, anyway. They can be born with the blood inside them and eventually start to change, usually around the lunar cycle, but most of them have been bitten by another werewolf. They eat the hearts of people in werewolf form, but sometimes they leave their victim with a bite that can pass it on. We killed this one though, so he can't go onto hurt anybody else."

"What if he bit somebody?"

"He didn't." Dean stopped his brother from filling her in with all the gory details.

Sam waited for his older brother to leave the table to order their food, before he decided to fill Madison in on some more details.

"In werewolf form, they're easy to spot. They still look human, but they have fangs, claws and demonic yellow eyes. Unless they're pure bloods, they don't come out unless it's around the lunar cycle. If somebody was bitten, they might not even know about it until the next lunar cycle, but even then they might not know. The werewolf takes over when they change. But they're harmless in human form. Some don't even know that they're changing. It can go on for years before they finally notice."

"But you have to kill them?" Madison asked, tilting her head to the side. "Because they're bad?"

"Yeah, we stop them before they can hurt anyone else. It's not necessarily their fault that they ended up like that, but they can't control it. There's an evil thing inside of them that wants to kill, so we have to stop it." Sam slid further into the booth, letting his brother in beside him with their drinks. "What did you order for me?"

"Burgers all around." Dean slid the glass of lemonade in Madison's direction, taking his jacket off before he sat down himself. He glanced up at one of the waitresses as they walked by, staying seated rather than chasing her down for her number. He turned his attention towards Madison instead, starting to worry about her.

They had only been together for past few weeks, but he had already noticed a change in her appetite and behaviour since the death of her father. She barely spoke to him anymore, let alone gave him long lectures about what was right and wrong. He found that annoying about her when they first met, but now he wished she'd at least open her mouth to speak to him every once in a while.

She managed to eat at least half of her burger, before Sam escorted her to the ladies room. He stayed right outside the whole time with her teddy bear in his hands, spotting his brother taking a phone call out of the bar.

"Hey." Sam smiled at her as she stepped out. "You done?"

"Yeah." Madison reached for her teddy bear, following him back through the bar.

"Dean." He caught up to his brother at the Impala, just as Dean snapped his cell phone shut. "Dean, what is it?"

"That was... Dad. He's sending us on a job."

"Again." Sam looked at his brother as though he was stupid. "You can't be freaking serious! He's alive after all this time and you didn't even ask where he was?"

"I asked, Sam. He said this was more important." He handed the scribbled down co-ordinates over to his brother. "He just said that he couldn't talk long, then he gave me those co-ordinates."

"So what, is he meeting us there?"

"I don't know." Dean shrugged his shoulders. "It's a job, Sam. It must be important for Dad to send us on it. Get your stuff, we can still make it to Bobby's by the end of the night." He grabbed the sleepy child's hand from her side, quickly leading her round to the back of his car to get her inside.

Sam didn't like the idea of them running off on another wild goose chase for their father, but he didn't have much of a choice if Dean was dead set on going ahead with their father's orders. He slumped into the passenger seat, watching the road as they took off for Bobby's place.

* * *

Bobby clambered out from behind his desk when he heard them arrive, making his way towards the front door as the headlights from the Impala glared through the downstairs windows of his house. He watched the boys packing up their things from the car, smiling to himself as they made their way towards him.

"What?" Dean hissed at the man, wanting to know what was so funny.

"You chuckle heads look like a couple of babysitters in over their heads." The man smirked, watching Dean carrying the child inside his house, while Sam had her pink backpack in one hand and her teddy bear in the other. "Sofa . . . in there." He directed them through, handing Dean a blanket as soon as he had laid down the sleeping child on the sofa that had seen better days. "So, this is Taylor's kid?"

"Madi." Sam tucked her teddy bear under her arm, setting her bag down at her feet. "Dean wants to ditch her with you."

"It's dangerous, Sam." Dean continued their earlier argument. "Her father's not around to protect her anymore. We could at least do right by her. This job Dad's sending us on could be dangerous. I can't bring her into that. She's just a kid. She'll be safer with Bobby. He kept us safe when we were kids. Dad would never bring us along on something like this when we were kids. He protected us from that and we can protect Madi too."

"John?" Bobby turned to look at Dean behind him. "He's been in contact with you?"

"Yeah, with some co-ordinates." Pulling the piece of paper with them on from his pocket, Sam handed them over to Bobby, so he could find out where they were for them. "Are you sure he didn't say anything else to you? Like where he is, where he's been all this time or the point in all of this?"

"No, Sam." Dean glared at his younger brother. "Like I said, he gave me the co-ordinates and said it was an order. He's our father, Sam, you may not respect the man, but I do. So just drop it, okay? I'm sick of always fighting with you, we're beginning to sound like an old married couple arguing over how to raise a kid."

Sam sighed heavily, dropping into a chair around Bobby's table.

"I still don't understand you, Dean. The whole point in me joining you was because Dad went missing. Why should we keep going off on these wild goose chases, just because Dad gave them to you. Bobby must know tons of other hunters. We can give them the case and go after Dad, like we've been trying to do all along. This isn't just his fight anymore. The demon that killed Mom, came back and killed, Jess. We should be with him in this."

"Dad gave us an order, Sam."

"Hey," Bobby called out to them from behind his desk. "When you girls are done fighting, you wonna come over here?" He straightened out the map as much as he could, pointing to Colorado. "This is where John's co-ordinates lead to." He tapped the area on the map. "I just read a newspaper report from that area." He searched his desk for the clipping, handing it over to the boys to read. "Here."

"Local man was found mauled in his home. No sign of forced entry." Sam read the first line out loud, watching his brother suddenly running for his bag. "Dean, what are you looking for?"

"Keep reading."

"Sounds like the police investigating the mysterious death don't know what to think." Sam continued reading. "They managed to rule out a bear attack, since there are signs of a robbery, but they still have no idea what could have mauled the victim, draining him of all his blood."

"Got it." Dean handed his father's journal over to Bobby. "Dad marked the area down as a possible vampire feeding grounds. There's four or five attacks a year that make it into the papers, but there's a ton of missing people. Hunters have gone through there before, but never came up with anything. They cover their tracks well."

"Vampires?" Bobby took a look at the research himself. "I heard they were extinct."

"Dad thought the same thing when we were looking for the Colt." Sam informed him. "They're not extinct, just lying low. So Dad's sending us after more of them? Why doesn't he just do it himself? Dean, where are you going?" He shouted after him as his brother decided to walk away rather than to fight about things anymore.

"I'm going to Colorado, Sam. Dad sent us this job for a reason. You don't wonna come, that's fine, but I'm going." Dean leant over the desk, grabbing his father's journal back from Bobby's hands. "Take care of Madison for us, we'll be back for her."

"Dean!" His younger brother gave out a heavy sigh, before he followed him out to the Impala. He didn't want his brother to get himself killed on another reckless solo mission that their father was sending them on, so he decided it would be safer if they were together. "Dean, wait up."

"Sam, don't even bother coming if you're just gonna lecture me."

"I'm not. I'm going along with you to watch your back. I still want to find Dad, but this is all we've got for now. This demon that Dad's hunting took out our Mom and Jess. He wants to deal with this thing without us because he thinks that it's his mission, but it's not. It affected all of us. You're my brother and I'm not gonna abandon you like Dad did. Besides, Madison is going to need both of us around if she's going to survive in this world. Do you want her to grow up the same way we did? Terrified that Dad wasn't going to come back for us?"

Dean shook his head at his brother. "I knew he always would. He may not have always done the right thing for us Sam, but he was our father and he was trying to keep us safe. He was dealing with the demons and crap that we have to deal with as best he could with two kids at his side."

"I know, but that's no excuse for disappearing on us, leaving us to deal with all of this on our own. He didn't even call back after you were dying, Dean. It's like he just doesn't care anymore. His need for vengeance has him blinded and you're willing to follow everything he tells you, just because he says it's an order. He still treats us like we're just kids, keeping us on a crap need to know basis. If he wants to send us on a job, he should tell us what it is, rather than giving us co-ordinates and saying it's an order."

"Hunting is our job, Sam. If you don't want to come, don't." Dean finally climbed into the Impala, sighing as his brother climbed into the other side.

"We're not kids anymore, Dean. We've been through a hell of a lot this year and Dad was nowhere to be seen. If he really cared about us, he would have been with us this year, helping us, rather than sending us cryptic messages."

"That's just the way he works." Dean dismissed it.

"That's crap, Dean. And you know it."

Bobby watched from the front window as the Winchester brothers stayed put for at least five minutes, arguing about their father's orders in the front of the Impala. He knew that John Winchester brought that out in a lot of people, as he had his own run in with the man a few years back, but he wouldn't expect his own sons to fight about a hunt like this.

* * *

**Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think so far.**

**~ Holly**


	4. Chapter Three: Dangerous Times

**Chapter Three - Dangerous Times**

Resting against her elbow on Bobby's dining table, Madison watched as the man spooned out the beans from the can into a bowl, setting it down in front of her. He poked through the dirty dishes piled in his sink, finding a decent enough fork. He gave it a quick wipe with the hem of his lumberjack shirt, before he handed it over to the child sat at his table. "You better eat up before they get cold. That's as good as it gets around here." He grabbed his beer from the middle of the table, returning to his desk in the next room.

The Winchester brothers had been away in Colorado on a hunt their father sent them on for the past few weeks. Sam called to tell Bobby that they had arrived, keeping him informed on their progress. It took them a little longer than expected to find the actual vampire nest, but as soon as they took out one, they discovered that they had several hideouts all over the town.

"Hey." Bobby knocked his fist against the desk, waiting for Madison to lift her head. "That food isn't gonna get eaten by itself. Get moving."

"I'm not hungry." Madison dropped the fork from her hands, sliding down from the table. She made her way back to the sofa that had been her bed for the past few days, clutching her teddy bear against her chest as she watched Bobby getting on with some research.

He glanced up as he felt her eyes on him, beginning to feel a little paranoid as she continued to stare.

"If you're not gonna eat, why don't you try sleeping?"

"I'm not tired." She shook her head from side to side. "What are you reading?"

"C'mere," He ushered her towards his desk, sliding the book towards her. "Can you read?" She nodded her head, taking hold of the corners of the book. "Keep reading through that for me, tell me if you find any reference to vampires. V-a-m-p..."

"I know how to spell it." The child cut him off. "Why are you looking for vampires?"

"I've got reports of their numbers increasing all over the place. I just want to make sure it's not apocalypse stuff." Bobby grabbed another open book for himself, skim reading through the pages in front of him. He checked on the child beside him after a few minutes, smiling as she reminded him of a young Sam. "Did your Daddy ever tell you about vampires?"

Madison shook her head, flipping the page of the book she had in front of her. "Sam did. He's told me lots of stuff. He told me a yellow eyed demon killed his Mom, and that's why they hunt. Daddy never told me what killed my Mom. But he only became a hunter after she died." She held the book out to Bobby, pointing to the paragraph about vampire leaders that she had found. "Why did you become a hunter?"

"That's a long story, kiddo." Bobby noticed her sighing a second later, deciding to give her a few details. "My wife, Karen... she was possessed by a demon. I didn't know what they were at the time. A hunter name of Rufus Turner, exorcised the demon. But it was too late, my wife was dead. He introduced me to this world and I haven't been able to get away from it ever since. I met the Winchester boys through their Daddy. He came by from the Roadhouse, looking for information on demons. I don't hunt much anymore, but I help out other hunters where I can. I met your Daddy six or seven years ago, when he came across his first demon possession. You were barely walking at the time. Your Daddy took you everywhere with him back then."

"He did?" Madison leant against the man's desk, watching him searching for another volume in the clutter. "Do you know what killed my Mom?"

Bobby pursed his lips together, giving her a slight nod. "Yeah . . . your Daddy mentioned it."

"What was it?" She brushed her hair from her face, giving the man a curious look. "Did he kill it?"

"Hunters aren't the forgiving kind when it comes to their family. You can guarantee your Daddy put that sucker six feet in the ground." Bobby gave her a slight smile, noticing the teddy bear still tucked under her name. "Does that bear of yours have a name?"

"George."

"George, huh. You know if you're gonna be a hunter like Dean and Sam, you're gonna need to leave George behind. Can't hold a weapon with George in your arms."

Madison turned her bear over, showing him the hidden zipper in the back. She pulled the zipper open, revealing the hidden switch blade in the stuffing.

"Nice." He smiled at her. "You better keep George around then. He might come in handy someday." Bobby turned back to his books, feeling her eyes still burning into him. "I don't know exactly what got to your mother, but your Daddy started hunting anything he could, everywhere he could. Just trying to get revenge for your Mom."

"Now that Dean and Sam have found their Daddy, will they come back?"

Bobby glanced up at her, nodding his head. "Count on it. John loves those boys, but he's not the type to stick around. He's a solo type hunter. Seen a lot of them over the years..." He paused hearing a scuffling noise coming from outside. "Shotgun, under the sofa." He motioned her towards it, pulling a knife out from between his books.

Madison quickly fetched the shotgun, handing it over to Bobby after he turned out the lights. She watched him patrolling from one window to the next, anxiously checking every angle he could to find whatever was trying to sneak up on them.

"Stay quiet . . . not a sound." He warned her.

He stepped out into the hallway to check the door, clenching his teeth together as the floorboards creaked beneath his feet. He glanced back to check on Madison, before he cautiously took a step closer to the front door.

He couldn't see anything outside, but he heard another scuffling sound, prompting him to take a look out there from the porch. He couldn't see anything in the dark, but nothing came running at him, so he figured it was just a rodent or something.

He lowered the shotgun to his side, returning to the house. He stopped dead in his tracks, raising the gun from his side to the shadow approaching his back door. He gulped as he saw a second and a third, quickly ushering Madison towards him.

"Run... Don't look back, just keep going." He gave her a gentle push out the door behind him, greeting the vampires invading his house with a buckshot each to the chest.

The child stumbled down the steps to his house, looking left then right, before she took off through the piles of old cars. She heard shots behind her, but she kept on running through the cold, dark night, following the maze created through the rusty piles of scrap with George tucked safely under her arm.

Madison stopped against the back of a truck about halfway down the lot, trying to slow her breathing as she heard voices. She couldn't pinpoint where they were coming from, so she dropped to the dirt, quickly commando crawling under the truck before they found her. The soil beneath the car was still soggy from last night's rain and it stunk of petrol fumes, but she had to try and stay quiet. She held her breath as they approached, watching out the side of the truck as two vampires walked by, searching for her in the wreckages.

The two of them slowly walked around the outside of the truck, stopping to look around for a moment, before they split up to cover more ground.

Madison waited until she couldn't hear their footsteps anymore, before she crawled out the other side of the truck. Her sneakers crunched through the dead leaves as she clambered to her feet, but there was no sign of the monsters chasing her.

She wanted to run back to the house, but she could hear the sound of an engine pulling up behind her. She took off running for the fence surrounding Bobby's property, following it round until she found a gap that she could squeeze through.

A vampire caught her leg as she tried to crawl through it, pulling her back into the salvage yard. She kicked at it with her other leg, but the monster inside the woman was too strong. It dragged her back through the hole in the fence, ripping her jeans against the sharp edges at the bottom in the process.

"Let her go!" A familiar voice ordered.

The vampire spun round, holding Madison by the throat as it looked down the barrel of the Winchester's gun. "Dean, you know that won't kill me."

"No, but it'll hurt like hell." He pulled the trigger, blasting a hole in the vampire's shoulder.

Madi crawled out the way as soon as she was free, covering her arm over her eyes as Sam jumped the vampire from behind, hacking it's head off with his razor sharp machete. She caught the blood squirting out from its limp body as she scrambled to her feet.

"Hey, are you okay?" Dean knelt down to her level, dusting down the dirt from her clothes. He found a fresh graze on her knee and a slight cut to her leg from the fence, but nothing that was life threatening.

"Madi." Sam retrieved her teddy bear from the dirt, placing it in her hands. "Where's Bobby?"

"The house. There were three vampires." She quickly warned them.

"Which means two more." Sam wiped the blood from his knife onto his jeans, taking his brother's shotgun from him, so he had his hands free to lift Madison into his arms. "Have you got a plan?"

"Yeah, we take out these ugly sons of bitches and save the day." Dean grinned at his younger brother, holding Madison securely against his side as they made their way back to Bobby's house in the middle of his salvage yard. He set her down on the porch, peering in through the window. He gave a signal to his brother, letting him take the lead into the house, while he tried to protect the child at his side.

One of the vampires was stood guarding an unconscious, Bobby in the front room, but the other one was nowhere to be seen. The Winchester brothers gave one another one of their usual signals, before they both jumped the vampire guarding, Bobby. He was a big guy, but they managed to knock him down together, giving Sam the chance to chop off his head.

"I'll check the back. Stay with Bobby." Sam wiped the blood from his chin onto his sleeve, leaving his brother to check on Bobby.

"Hey... Bobby," Dean rolled him over, pulling the shotgun out from under him. "Bobby, wake up." He gently tapped his hand across his face, until he started to open his eyes. "Hey, you alright, man?"

"V-ampires." The man choked, wiping the blood from his head. "Madi ran out. Three of em. I pumped one of em full of buckshots."

"We're on it, Bobby." He helped the man to his feet, easing him over to the sofa to sit down. "They were pretty pissed that we took out their nest back in Colorado. I saved Sam after they tossed our motel room. He heard them talking about your salvage yard. They must have heard us on the phone to you, figured you were the one who told us about their nests and came looking."

"How about calling for a heads up?" Bobby growled at him.

"Sorry Bobby, they didn't have much of a heads start, so we figured we could catch them before they got to you. They took out our phones back at the motel, vultures tore up everything we had. I managed to save this." He showed him his father's journal tucked into his jacket. He glanced up as Sam returned, nodding his head after taking out the third vampire out the back. "Madi, c'mere..." He lifted her onto the sofa beside Bobby, pulling out the first aid kit from its usual spot.

"It doesn't hurt." Madison assured him, but he wanted to check the cut out himself.

"This will a little." Dean shook up the disinfectant, searching for a cotton wool bud in the kit.

Bobby had patched up both of them from multiple injuries over the years, more times than he could remember. He used to be squeamish of blood, but he learned to stitch, remove bullets and patch up stab wounds over the years since he had become a hunter.

Watching Dean patching up the little girl beside him, Bobby could swear he was watching a father tending to his own flesh and blood, daughter. He could see now why they didn't want to leave her somewhere that she would be safe. They had taken it upon themselves to become her protectors, everything that she lost when she lost her father.

"Sorry, sorry..." Dean gently dabbed the cut to her leg, cringing every time he hurt her a little more. "I don't think it needs a bandage, but we're gonna have to get you some new jeans. These ones are toast."

"Eh, Dean." Bobby tried to get his attention. "Can I have a band-aid?" He motioned towards the cut to his head. "You know, unless you're too busy. I can wait."

Dean rolled his eyes, before he tended to the minor cut to Bobby's head. He didn't need a bandage either, but Sam got him some ice to help with the swelling after his brother had cleared up the blood.

"Do you think we got the last of them?" Dean asked his younger brother, tossing aside the blood covered cotton buds into the trash. "Are those three the only ones you saw?"

"I was kinda out of it, Dean." Sam rubbed the bruise to his chin, looking out at the bodies he had dragged outside. "I recognise those two. The woman... I'm not so sure. I don't think we should stay here tonight. If there are any more of them, this is the first place they'll look for us."

"Agreed." Dean pushed himself to his feet, grabbing his favourite gun from where he left it. He tucked it into the waistband of his jeans, grabbing his duffel off the floor. "We'll pack up some things and head to a motel or something. Bobby, you're coming with us. No arguments, they almost killed you."

"I'm not leaving my house because of you idgits. I've got an arsenal in here."

"One night away won't do any harm." Dean insisted, packing Madison's things into her backpack.

He lifted the child onto his hip, taking her out to the car, while his brother helped Bobby to reluctantly pack up a few things for the night. He dragged his heels as much as he could, refusing to leave behind certain things, before he finally climbed into the back of the Impala with Madison.

"Buckle up, kids." Dean decided to add a little more insult to his situation.

"You realise they can still track us." Bobby decided to inform them, at least half an hour after they left his salvage yard behind. "Once a vampire gets your scent locked in, there's no escaping them. Noses like a blood hound."

"Here, dust your clothes with this." Sam passed him a satchel full of ashes.

"One of Dad's tricks." Dean filled him in, smiling as he watched the man cringing from the scent of it. "Blocks your scent from vampires. Trust us, okay Bobby. They can't track us with this stuff stinking up your clothes."

"Do you really think that this is the life your recently adopted child should be around?" Bobby took his chance to ask them, since the child in question was old cold on the back seat beside him, with her thumb in her mouth and her favourite teddy bear tucked under her arm. "I know you mean well boys, but did you ever stop and think about what's best for her? I think it's real noble that you're taking care of Madison now that her father's not around, but have you thought about anything long term? You boys spend all your time on the road, going after monsters. You gotta know that it's not safe. You went through it yourself with your own Daddy."

"Our Dad kept us safe." Dean pointed out to him.

"We're not gonna raise her like that." His younger brother added, surprising both of them. "C'mon, we can't just ditch her somewhere now, Dean. She's not gonna trust anyone else. She trusts us."

"You want to raise her?" Dean almost veered the car off the road from the shock. He thought that maybe his younger brother was joking for a second, but then he realised that he was in fact serious about the insane idea. "Me and you, raising a kid?"

"Yeah, Dean. It's not so crazy."

"The hell it is." Bobby piped in from the back seat, keeping his voice down so he didn't wake up Madison beside him. "You can't just wake up one day and decide to adopt a little orphan, especially not in your line of work. You boys can barely look after each other, let alone a little girl. You're in way over your heads on this one, boys."

The Winchester brothers remained silent, feeling a little hurt by the man's words. They thought they had done a pretty good job at taking care of each other over the years, but their biggest critic was the man who had been like a second father to them.

The next morning, Madison woke up with her face pressed against a soft white pillow. She could see another bed just a few feet in front of hers with Dean fast asleep under the covers. She spotted the ivory handle of his gun beneath his pillow, along with the handle of his knife sticking out the side of the mattress. She cast her eyes towards the other side of the room, seeing Bobby crashed out on the sofa. He didn't look very comfortable, but he too had a knife stashed under his pillow.

She rolled herself over onto her back, looking at Sam sat at the little round table in the kitchen with a laptop open in front of him. He looked a little sleepy, but he managed to keep his head propped up with elbow against the table, researching away to try and find anything related to vampire attacks.

Grabbing her teddy bear from beside her, Madison slid out from under the covers, slowly padding across the floor towards, Sam. "Morning." He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, smiling at her as she did the same. "Your pigtails all messed up." He ushered her closer, gently tugging the hair tie out of the birds nest on her head. "We'll have to get you a hairbrush. Unless you think we should shave it all off?"

"No." She squirmed out of his reach as he pretended to cut her hair with his fingers. "Did the vampires come back?"

"No, they're gone." Sam closed the laptop in front of him. "Do you want some breakfast?"

Madison quickly nodded her head, taking a step back as Sam climbed to his feet. She followed him across the cold kitchen floor, seeing beers and day old pizza inside the fridge, but nothing she really wanted to eat. "Don't you have any cereal?"

"No... but I can go and get some." He grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair, searching the pockets for his money. He found his empty money clip, realising they spent the last of their cash to top up the Impala's gas tank. He made his way over to Dean's bed, grabbing his brother's jacket off the end of the bed to search for any spare change that he had. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Stay in here."

Madison nodded, climbing back onto her bed. She waved to Sam as he left their motel room, hoping he'd come back soon with lots of food. She stayed put on her bed for a few minutes, before she spied the duffel bag across the room full of weapons. Sliding off the bed, Madison grabbed the handle to the knife that Sam had given her the other day, examining it for a moment.

When her father went out on a hunt, he'd always leave salt at the windows and a loaded shotgun somewhere that she could reach it. He left her with other hunters if he was gone for more than a day, but he always came back in the end. He taught her how to shoot and load guns when he was around, but she never fired one at anything other than soda cans until the shapeshifter a few weeks ago. He didn't teach her anything with knifes, but Sam and Dean were always carrying one.

Sam returned to the motel room a few minutes later, rushing to close the laptop that Madison was sat in front of. She quickly moved her hands away before they got shut inside, giving the man an innocent smile as she leant back in her seat. "I didn't read anything."

"Oh really?" Sam raised his eyebrows, doubting her the second he saw her smile. "I got you some bagels." He set the bag on the table, clearing away his laptop before she read anything else she wasn't supposed to.

"What are bagels?" Madison leant forwards, watching him unpacking the groceries from his bag.

"They're really good. A lot better than day old pizza." He assured her, setting her up with one. He took a seat beside her with his own, letting her take the first bite. "It's good, right?"

The child shrugged her shoulders, brushing her hair from her face. "Sam, where's your Daddy?"

"He's out hunting somewhere. Never tells us where, just sends us off on hunts that he's too busy to deal with." He grabbed for one of the coffees he had bought, taking the plastic lid off to drink it. "He's been hunting the demon that killed our Mom his whole life. It's a really powerful demon and he's looking to kill it, rather than just exorcising it back to hell. Bobby doesn't know of any way to kill a demon, but our Dad thinks he knows a way. I just wish he'd let us help him."

"When you kill the demon that killed your Mom, what will you do then?" She curiously asked him, receiving a shrug in response. "I think you should get married."

"Oh really?" Sam smiled at her, resting against his elbow on the table. "Who will look after my brother if I got married?" He asked her, looking at his brother peacefully sleeping in front of them. "Dean doesn't like being by himself. He's been trying to keep our family together since he was just a kid. He's always wanted a real family of his own, but living this life kinda prevents anything like that."

"We can be a family." Madison declared, getting a smile out of Sam.

"You really think so?"

* * *

**Thank you for reading, please review!**

**~ Holly**


	5. Chapter Four: Real Monsters

**Chapter Four - Real Monsters**

"Man, I hate the suburbs." Returning to the park bench with a bag full of food, Dean dropped to the bench beside his younger brother, handing him one of the greasy burger bags. "I had to drive right out of town just to get some decent food."

"You call this decent? You're gonna kill yourself on this stuff someday." Sam ditched the greasy bag on the bench beside him, turning the laptop on his lap to face his brother. "Here, look at this. Third suspicious death this month. Just like the other two, the victim was all alone in their locked house. No sign of break in. Coroners had to scrape this last one off his kitchen ceiling."

"Why?" Dean frowned, stuffing another mouthful of burger into his mouth, slopping the special barbeque sauce down his chin.

"Get this, they think his kitchen ceiling fan did it. Sucked him right up. Dude." Sam frowned at his older brother. "Get a freaking napkin or something."

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Dean read through the rest of the report, trying to figure out what they were dealing with. "How'd the first two die again?"

"Uh, first one," Sam brought up the other two reports. "Single Mom in her late thirties, fell down the stairs, completely shredded by some kind of animal. They think it broke into her house and she slipped trying to get away from it. Second one boiled alive in his own bath tub after he was slaughtered in his locked bathroom. His insides practically liquefied."

"Dude, I'm eating." Dean motioned to his half eaten burger, trying to put the image out of his head, before he took another bite. "How do we know this isn't just the run of the mill household accidents? Might not be our thing."

"Dean, this is exactly our kind of thing. People don't get sucked up into their ceiling fan. The blades didn't even break. This report said it wasn't even one of those metal ones. Plus the locked doors. This doesn't happen in the real world." He closed his laptop, stuffing it into his brown leather bag beside him. "Shall we get the suits? We can stop by the victims houses, look around for the usual stuff."

"What about..." Dean searched the playground in front of them, quickly scanning each of the children's faces, until he spotted the one he was looking for. She had climbed halfway up the dome like frame, looking like a real kid for the first time in weeks. "What are we gonna tell them, it's a bring your kid to work day?"

"She can sit the car." Sam climbed to his feet, pulling his bag on over his shoulder. "C'mon Dean, while we're young."

"Keep your panties on, Sammy." Dean looked at the rest of the food he had bought, giving out a sigh as he packed it all up. He snatched up Sam's uneaten burger, stuffing it into the bag for later, before he hurried over to the climbing dome. "Madi, c'mon. It's time to go."

"Is that your Dad?" One of the other kids asked her as she slipped through the bars of the climbing frame, dropping to the tarmac in the middle. She climbed through the side next to Dean, waving to the other girl as they made their way out of the park.

"Who's that?" Dean asked her, leading the way back to his car.

"Chloe." Madison skipped on ahead, climbing into the back of the Impala. She picked up her teddy bear off her stuff, holding him tightly as the Winchester brothers climbed into the front. "Where are we going?"

"We're working a case here actually." Sam stuffed his bag into the back by her feet. "We can hit the last house first." He retrieved the map of the local area that he nabbed on their arrival. "Looks like they're all pretty close together. Might be something working in one area. Let's find a motel to change."

"Hey," Dean spotted something in the distance. "I got a better idea."

Sam followed his brother's gaze, spotting a real estate sign. He didn't know what his brother had planned, but he knew they'd never be able to afford anything in this neighbourhood. Not even with their fake credit cards. He decided not to argue as he drove them through the local neighbourhood, but he couldn't help it when his brother pulled into the driveway of a house up for sale.

"You can't be serious, Dean."

"What, we're only gonna be here for a few days. We can squat in a flash house for a change." Dean motioned towards the garage door, giving his younger brother a glare, until he got the message. He reluctantly climbed out the car, pulling the garage door open, so Dean could hide the Impala inside. "I know for a fact that the realtor happens to be dead, so no one will found out. Chill out, little brother." He gave him a reassuring smile as he climbed out the car. "C'mon Madi, grab your stuff."

Madison grabbed her bag, sliding out of the car. She followed Sam towards the back door in the garage, watching him picking the lock open, before they could make their way inside. The first room they entered was a large utility room, complete with a washer, dryer and ironing board. The next room was a large family sized kitchen with an island in the middle, a huge fridge, freezer and an expensive looking coffee maker.

"Wow." Dean set his duffel on the floor, going straight for the fridge. He sighed as it was empty, feeling his stomach still rumbling with hunger after his interrupted lunch.

Leaving Sam and Dean in the kitchen, Madison made her way through to the large family dining room that opened up into a living room with a huge L shaped sofa, spreading from one corner of the room to the other. She turned for the stairs, extending her hand up to the banister to make her way up to the second floor. She found a master bedroom in the first room with a huge double bed, walk in wardrobe and a bathroom with the biggest Jacuzzi sized bath tub she had ever seen.

Making her way across the hall, Madison found a guest bedroom and two children's sized rooms. They were furnished with the most basic things, but it felt more like a home than any motel room ever had. She dropped her bag in one of the child's sized bedrooms, brushing her fingertips across the smooth wooden surface of the pine desk.

"Hey." Dean appeared at the bedroom door. "We're gonna head out to inspect the first house. Don't answer the door. Stay hidden if anyone looks in through the windows. My duffels in the kitchen for salt and that." He knelt down in front of her, pulling his favourite gun out of his waistband. "It's fully loaded. Aim for the head or heart . . . either one of those are usually the weak spot in monsters. You know how to use it?"

Madison nodded her head slightly, wishing he didn't have to go. He set the gun on her desk as he left the room, barking orders at his younger brother to hurry up, before the two of them left the house in the only suit they had ever owned and their fake ID badges.

She watched them leaving from her window, before she made her way through to the master bathroom. She fiddled with the controls of the Jacuzzi tub for a little while, curious to know what all the little buttons and knobs did, before she took her first bath in weeks. She found pristine white fluffy towels in the closet that weren't itchy or had weird stains on them like in the motel rooms they had stayed at, along with warm bath robes fit for a king.

They were adult sized, but she wrapped herself in the warm fabric, crashing against the large sofa to watch some cartoons. The picture quality on the large television was much better than Bobby's old box and it had proper sound without the annoying crackling in the background.

An hour or so later, she stuffed all of her clothes in the washer, guessing which buttons to press and how much powder to put in. They came out dripping wet, but they smelled like lavender, rather than blood, dirt and motor fumes. She threw them in the dryer next, hearing a loud bang coming from outside.

Grabbing Dean's gun off the side, Madison held it out in front of her, cautiously approaching the sliding glass door in the dining room. She looked out into the garden for the first time, noticing a swing set and a trampoline, but nothing that could have banged against the window. She lowered the gun to her side, spotting a dead bird on the patio, right outside the door.

Madison returned to the dryer, grabbing herself some clothes to wear, before she went outside to bury the little bird in one of the flower beds. She found a shovel in the garden shed, along with a rock to mark its grave.

"Bye, little bird." She turned away from his grave, making her way over to the trampoline at the end of the garden.

It had a few dead leaves scattered over it, but it looked safe enough to climb onto. She cautiously made her way to the middle, testing the squeaky springs, before she felt satisfied enough to bounce a little higher, peering into the back yards of their neighbours. She could see a lot of manicured lawns, flowerbeds full of perfectly trimmed flowers and pristine garden furniture for entertaining guests. She spotted a kids birthday party a few houses over, watching a mother carrying a huge birthday cake over to one of the little girls.

They sang happy birthday to her, helping themselves to a piece of cake each, before they got back to playing party games for hours on end. They weren't troubled by the world around them or the monsters that were lurking in the shadows, making her envy them a little.

"Madison!" Sam called out the back door to her, ushering her inside as she looked in his direction. "I gotcha some food." He set down the various little boxes on the table. "Have you seen my laptop?"

"In the front room. On the coffee table." Madison climbed into a seat at the dining table, giving him a guilty smile as he retrieved it from where she left it. "Where's Dean?"

"Coroner's office." Sam took a seat in front of her, checking his browser history before anything else, trying to see what she had been looking at. "Wyoming newspaper reports from eight years ago?" He glanced over his laptop, looking at the little girl in front of him. "What exactly are you looking for, Madi?"

"The thing that killed my Mom. My Dad never told me. Bobby wouldn't either, so I tried to find out myself."

"Your Dad never told you what?" He found that a little surprising as most hunters were always going on about the thing that got them started in this business. He knew several hunters that had a severe hatred for vampires because of what they did to their families. They wouldn't take on a job, unless they were sure that a vampire was involved. "Tell you what, you help me out with this case that we're working now and I'll help you find what killed your Mom as soon as we're done."

"Okay." Madison slid out of her seat, joining him round the other side of the table. "What did you get from the crime scene?" She queried, watching him retrieving a little tweed bag from his top pocket. "A hex bag?"

"Yeah." He smiled at her as she actually knew what it was. "We think we're looking for a witch that's summoning something or doing something to these people, but we don't know who it is." He unravelled it on the table, showing her what was inside. "It could be anyone, since most witches are human. We have to find someone that could have a grudge against the victims or someone that they all have in common."

"Don't you think hunters would make really good police investigators?" She suddenly asked him. "You'd actually get paid to do this then."

"We wouldn't be able to do half the stuff we do if we were though. In the human world, there's too many laws and rules that are there to try and protect people. We wouldn't be able to carry our weapons, dig up graves, burn bones... half the stuff we do to try and save people, because it's all against the law and they wouldn't understand it. It's why we have to live like this and operate under the radar. If anyone in law enforcement knew what we were doing, we'd be behind bars for life. Here we go..." Sam turned his attention back to the computer in front of him, finding something all the victims had in common. "Once upon a time, all our victims went to college together. They made the papers."

"What for?" Madison leant against his side, watching him reading through the newspaper report.

"Green peace. They set fire to a lab on their school campus. Only one person died."

"Do witches come back to life?" Madison gave him a curious look as he started searching for something else. "You said that most witches are human and humans come back as ghosts, maybe it's a ghost witch."

"A ghost witch?" He raised an eyebrow in her direction, thinking that was something Dean would come up with. "I suppose it's not totally crazy." He reached for his phone as his brother called him back after stopping by the coroner's office. "Hey, what'd you find out? Yeah..." He took the call into the other room, leaving Madison with his open laptop.

Taking a seat on Sam's chair, Madison read through the report on the fire for herself, reading through a passage that he missed about the suspected arsonist. "Sam..." She caught his attention when he returned. "What's a... arsonist?"

"Uh... someone that starts fires." He searched through his bag, pulling out a knife to stuff into his belt. "Why?"

Leaning forwards, Madison clicked on the link beneath the arsonist's name, bringing her to another page. "The original suspected arsonist died in a fire this year." She reported, resting against her elbow on the table. She stayed seated as Sam leant over her shoulder, taking a look for himself.

"It says they think he committed suicide. He can't be our ghost. Ghosts are usually created from violent deaths. This case we're working is the vengeful spirit kind." Sam grabbed his suit jacket off the back of the chair, closing his laptop, before the child read anymore. "I'm going to meet Dean at one of the victims houses. Finish your food then get some sleep." He instructed her, searching his pockets for his fake ID badge.

"But he died in a fire." Madison hurried after him, blocking his exit out the back door. "The one from college died in a fire."

"Yeah, but these three new ones didn't die in fires. They were killed in locked houses or locked rooms, by themselves. Ghosts don't change their MO." He pointed out to her, gently pushing her out of the way. "Finish your food then get some sleep. I'll be back later."

Madison gave out a soft sigh, returning to her seat as Sam left the house they were squatting in.

Although she was annoyed about not being included in the hunt or listened to during the research process of their case, Madison did as he instructed, finishing off the rest of her food, before she climbed into the comfy bed upstairs. She listened to the wind whistling through the cracks in her window, clutching her covers tightly as the closet door across the room gave out a screeching creak.

She reached her hand beneath her pillow for the knife that she usually kept there, but she hadn't unpacked it from her bag yet. She searched her covers for her teddy bear, George, but he was still downstairs on the sofa and Dean's gun was still in the utility room.

Madison took in a few deep breaths, looking at the light switch on the wall. It seemed so far away, so out of reach and she was the only one home.

* * *

"A ghost witch? Did you just make that up?" Searching behind the fridge, Dean smiled as he found the hex bag first. "So, all these people went to college together, started a fire while they were in green peace and you think that a ghost witch is targeting them?" He held up the hex bag to his brother, giving him a grin as he found it before he did. "Any suspects?"

Sam sighed, snatching the hex bag from Dean's hand. "No, not really. One person died in the fire. And last year the suspected arsonist committed suicide."

"How?"

"I dunno. Fire or something." Sam shrugged his shoulders, handing his brother his flashlight, while he opened up the hex bag on the counter to see what was inside. "All of these things are the normal kinda crap you find in a hex bag, but this..." He held up the shiny silver object with parts of a letter engraved into it. "I couldn't find this anywhere or the symbol, since it's only a small part of it. But it looks like it's been broken off of something."

"Where's the other two hex bags?" Dean waited for his brother to retrieve them from his jacket, before he opened them up. He took out the other halves of the shiny object, fixing them together like pieces of a puzzle. "Ghosts attach themselves to personal objects or something that has their blood or DNA on it, right?"

"Yeah... why?"

"Your ghost witch theory might be right. I've seen this before." He brushed his thumb across the tiny shiny halves of the unusual looking coin, trying to remember where he had seen it. "Oh... when we were talking to that hot tub dead guys wife, she had that old painting of her..."

"Grandmother." Sam remembered, directing the light of the flashlight over the broken pieces of the coin. "I'm surprised you remember something like that. I didn't think you pay attention to stuff like that." He teased his brother. "But that would mean that she killed her own husband. You think she's using her mother's ghost in some sort of summoning spell? If you're right, then she only has one piece of the coin left."

"Yeah, so who's she saving the last piece for." Dean scooped up the pieces of the coin, stuffing them into his top pocket for later. "All the demons and monsters we've already got in this world, now we have to deal with these freaking witches." He complained, grabbing his shotgun off the counter. "Hey eh, did you get a name on whoever died in that lab fire?"

"Adam... something." His younger brother shrugged. "What?"

"Since when do you slack on research?" Dean sighed, turning for the door. "You better hope she hasn't already killed her fourth victim, Sammy." He gave him a look of disappoint, not knowing that his mind was a little preoccupied at the time. "I'm gonna head straight over hers, see if I can find the witch and stop her before she has a chance to cast this last hex. You head back to the house and find out why she's even going after these people."

"Who died and made you the boss? Why do I have to do the research?"

"Because I'm the oldest and what I say goes." Dean used his usual argument, giving his younger brother a smile as he climbed into the car. "See yah, Sammy."

"Dean... how am I supposed to..." He watched his brother driving away in the Impala, giving out a weary sigh as he left him stranded. He should have been used to his big brother by now, but he was fooled was by his older sibling protectiveness time and time again. "Jerk." He muttered, reluctantly walking back to the house.

When he reached their block of houses, he saw all the lights were out on the neighbours houses, but the one they were staying in was brightly lit with every light in the house. He hurried in through the back before anyone noticed, turning off the lights in the kitchen and dining room, before he bumped into Madison sitting at the bottom of the stairs.

"Madi..." Sam ditched his bag, kneeling down in front of her. "Madi, why are all the lights on?"

"There's a monster in my closet." She whispered, clutching her teddy bear tightly in her arms.

"A monster?" If this were any other child, he'd believe they were just scared of the dark, but this child had seen what was in the dark. "Do you want me to take a look?" He reached for his bag behind him, pulling out his gun. He pulled back the slide, loading a bullet into the chamber, before he led the way upstairs to her room. It was the only room in the house that was in total darkness, making it even more eerie.

Sam pointed the gun out in front of him, taking a small step into the room. He looked around the darkness for any unusual shadows or anything that didn't belong, before he turned his head to the side to look for a light switch.

The second he turned his head away from the darkness of the room, he felt a sudden rush of cold air. He searched the wall with his hand for the light switch, flinching as the bulb exploded as soon as he clicked the switch. It could have just been a dodgy bulb, but the ghostly screech he heard coming from the shadows was not.

"Okay, Madison..." He glanced over his shoulder at her. "Go downstairs. I'm right behind you."

The darkness suddenly lunged out at Sam, throwing him back against the wall behind him.

"Sam!"

"Go." Sam scrambled to his feet, hurrying down the stairs after her. He grabbed for a loaded shotgun from his bag, pointing it up the stairs as the two of them panted heavily. "It's not following." He whispered, realising the lights were still on in the hallway. "Shadow demons... daeva." He remembered the horror stories his big brother used to tell him when he was just a kid of demons that could only come out in the shadows. He always thought he was joking, but this was the second time he had encountered them and his brother was nowhere to be seen to carry out the prank.

"A daeva?" Madison clung to his side, feeling even more scared now that Sam was scared too.

"A demon. They can't go in the light and they're usually summoned by powerful magic's." He remembered parts of the lore that his older brother used to scare him with. "You can't fight them, because they're invisible. We have to get out of here."

Sam slid his hands beneath the child's arms, lifting her onto his hip. He made his way towards the front door, realising it was still pitch black outside and the sun wasn't expected to rise for a few hours yet.

"Are we trapped?" Madison clutched his shoulder and her teddy bear tightly, looking out the window at the night time sky. "Will it eat us?"

"Not if we stay in the light." Sam put his back to the door, watching the light in the hallway upstairs starting to flicker. He knew it couldn't just be the bulb again. The daeva was trying to blow all the lights out to get them and there was nothing he could do to stop it. "Here." He dropped his phone into her hand, setting her down by the door. "Stay right there. Call Dean."

"Where are you going?" Madison watched him running through to the dining room, switching all the lights back on. He had no idea what could stop a daeva other than light, so it was his only hope of defending their lives, until his big brother came to save them.

* * *

"Daeva?"

Dean pulled up just outside of the suspected witch's house, trying to listen to what Madison was saying over the static. He climbed out of his Impala, holding the phone up in the air, trying to get a better signal. He heard a few garbled words of what she was saying, before the phone completely cut out.

"Damn it." He stuffed the cell into his pocket, grabbing his gun off the passenger seat, before he ran up the steps of the witch's house. He slammed into the door in an attempt to bust it open, but the door didn't budge. "Hey! Open up, you bitch." He caught sight of her in the window beside him, knelt down at the coffee table with weird looking vials and a spell book with a roaring fire crackling behind her.

He definitely had the right address.

Dean forced his elbow through the window, shattering the glass across her pristine white couch. He quickly climbed through in his muddy biker boots, not even stirring the witch as she continued to chant in a language he had never heard before, drawing a symbol on her table in a thick red liquid that he could only guess was blood.

"Hey." He called out to get her attention again, but she wasn't listening. Deciding to take the more drastic approach, Dean grabbed the edge of her coffee table, completely overturning it so everything was on the floor.

"Nooo!" The witch screamed, standing with a glare directed at the man in her house. "Do you have any idea what you just did?"

"I'm guessing it wasn't good." Dean raised his gun at the shadow approaching, shielding his eyes as it ripped straight through the woman, splattering her blood across the beige walls.

He tried to follow the moving shadow, but it tossed him across the room before he even knew it was there.

"Son of a..."

He held his sore ribs, looking around for the gun that had slid out of his hands. He spotted a small shiny thing first, quickly grabbing for it as he realised it was the last part of the coin. He crawled out of the shadows grip, tossing all four pieces of the coin onto the fire behind the witch's smashed altar. He wasn't sure if it would work at first, but as the old coin started to melt, he heard a screeching sound from the shadows.

Dean quickly retrieved his cell from his pocket, hitting his younger brother's speed dial. He anxiously waited for him to pick up, getting worried when there was no answer. He ran out to his car as he dialled his number again, holding his cell in one hand and the steering wheel in the other, racing over to the house.

"Sam!" Ditching the Impala in the street, Dean ran for the house, forcing the door with his elbow. He picked up his brother's ringing cell off the floor, finding teddy bear George just a few feet away, along with a blood splatter. "Madison! Sammy!" He frantically called their names, following the specks of blood in the carpet towards the sliding glass doors in the dining room that had been shattered.

He took a step outside, quickly sliding to the ground as something swung at his head.

"Dean." His younger brother lowered his weapon, giving out a sigh as he really had come to their rescue. "The daeva." He looked back through the broken door, but he couldn't see it now all the lights were out.

"I took care of it." Dean pulled open his brother's jacket, looking the slices the daeva had taken out of his side. "Where's Madison?" He followed his brother's gaze towards the shed at the end of the garden. "It's okay." He reached through the door, lifting out the child into his arms. Her little fingers immediately clung to his shoulders like daggers, while her frozen little body shivered in his arms. "The daeva is gone. I took care of it."

"How?" Sam rubbed the aches and pains in his neck, shoulders and back from when the daeva threw him through the glass doors.

"The witch, she had this altar set up in her living room. When I destroyed it, the daeva turned on her. Bitch got was coming to her. C'mon," Leading the way back into the house, Dean took a quick look around to make sure there was nothing lurking in the darkness, before sat her down on the dining table to tend to her grazes. "They don't look so bad. Sammy." He ushered his brother over, fussing over the glass cuts to his arms and face.

"Get off." Sam pushed him away. "I'm fine. So, why'd the witch do it?"

"Sorry, I forgot to ask her while she was being ripped apart. Who cares, Sammy." Dean blew it off with a remark. "C'mon, let's get out of here. I'm sick of the freaking suburbs." He grabbed his bag from the kitchen, packing up all of their things. The house they were squatting in was completely trashed now, so they had to make sure they were out before anyone noticed or called the authorities on them for all the noise during the daeva attack.

After a few hours on the road, Dean adjusted the rear view mirror, until he could see the child sleeping in the back seat of the car.

"Go on, say it." Sam glanced over at him from the books in his lap, wondering why he hadn't said it already. He clicked off the flashlight he was holding in his hands, tilting his head back to look at Madison sleeping. "She's not cut out for this. She shouldn't be with us. She's just a kid."

"I wasn't going to say that." Dean sighed unenthusiastically, wishing they could cut a break for a while to get things sorted. He realised now why his father did the things he did when they were growing up. He wasn't being cruel or sadistic. He was keeping them alive, preparing them for the world they lived in. "She can't stay just a kid if she's with us, Sam. We're gonna get her killed if we keep treating her like a kid."

* * *

**Thank you for reading and reviewing so far, please let me know what you thought!**

**Sorry for the wait. I had chapter four ready, but I decided to push it to the next chapter, so I could add this one in a little earlier. The Daeva monsters in this one are from season 1 episode 16 - Shadow, which is still one of my favourite episodes. It's a shame they haven't used the Daeva again in the supernatural series, they were one of the first episodes I saw on TV, which got me hooked on the Supernatural series in the first place.**

**~ Holly**


	6. Chapter Five: Parenting 101

**Chapter Five - Parenting 101**

"Woah... son of a bitch."

Dean lost his balance for just a moment, quickly trying to steady himself on the large beam running across the ceiling. He looked down at the bar stools, tables, chairs, discarded beer bottles and a pool table, knowing each and every one of those objects would do some serious damage to him if he actually fell.

He gave his younger brother a reassuring smile, before he inched his foot forwards a little to continue. He wasn't just trying to balance to see if he could. They were following the case of a recent haunting in the area. All of their research pointed to a man named George Cranfield, who worked as a local fire fighter. He was somewhat of a local hero, before he died in a house fire. His only remains were a framed glove at the local bar that he wore when he saved the patrons from burning to death.

And it just happened to be on the highest point on the ceiling.

Inching his foot forwards a little more, Dean gave out a sharp breath through his clenched teeth, seeing his icy exhalation in front of him. "Sammy, heads up."

"Yeah." Sam held the iron bar in his hands a little higher, ready to bat away any spirit that came at him. He just hoped that it would go for him and not his brother on the ceiling.

Dean steadied himself, reaching out for the glass case in front of him, covered with a thick layer of dust. "Man, if this is how you honour your heroes." He brushed down the dust from the clasp, opening it up to take the gloves out. "Sam." He held them over the edge, dropping them down to his brother. "Now let's get out of here and smoke the son of a bitch."

"Hurry it up." Sam anxiously looked around the bar, wondering when the spirit would show itself. He could still see his breath in front of his face and the chill down his spine, but there was still no sign of it. "Dean, this one doesn't sit right with me. The way these people died, this guy doesn't seem like the kind of guy to kill his community like this."

"You never know what goes on behind closed doors, Sammy." Dean inched his way back across the beam, before he managed to climb down onto the bar again. "Who cares why he did it, let's just burn the guy so he doesn't do it anymore." He grabbed the gloves from his brother's hands, turning towards the door.

"Dean."

Hearing the click of a gun, Dean slowly turned to face his brother, widening his eyes at the sight of the gun he was pointing at him. "Sam... what are you doing? Take it easy, we can talk about this. Just put the gun down."

Sam shook his head, aiming the gun directly at his brother's head. "I think I'm done taking your orders."

"Sam..." He raised his hands like a suspect. "C'mon... we can talk about this. I'm your brother, you're not gonna shoot me."

"I'm done talking." His brother took a step closer. "Day in, day out, all we do is talk. About you. About Dad. You've always been Daddy's good little solider. Obeying every order he gives you. Hoping that just once he'll actually notice that you're there. But he doesn't. He doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about either of us. And I'm sick of hearing about him and his orders."

"Yeah, I hear you man. I really do." Dean lowered his hands slightly, making it look as though he was giving up. "We don't need Dad." He lunged forwards to catch his brother off guard, forcing the gun up into the air as it went off.

In the back of the Impala outside, Madison jumped at the sound of the gunshot, fearing that something had happened to one of the Winchester brothers. She slid across the back seat, grabbing a gun from Dean's duffel bag on the floor, before she decided to make her way inside the bar.

Madison slipped in through the front door, watching Dean tumbling through a set of table and chairs, like a bowling ball knocking down a set of pins. She cast her eyes towards the assailant that pushed him, shivering as it was his own brother, Sam. He charged across the room to pick up his brother, continuing the beating with a few heavy right fists to the ribs.

Sam slammed his brother into the edge of the pool table, picking up one of the sticks from the table. "This is how the adventure of Dean and Sam ends."

"Nooo!" Madison finally shrieked, alerting them both of her presence.

Leaving his brother leant against the table, Sam turned his attention towards the child, gunning for her like a rabid dog. She stumbled backwards over one of the broken chair legs, falling hard on her elbows against the wooden floor.

"Sss-am." Dean choked on the blood in his throat. "Sam, no!"

Madison scrambled to her feet before Sam could get to her, leaving the gun behind as she hurried out of the double doors. She took a left into the alleyway, rather than a right back to the car, running as fast as her little legs could carry her. She stumbled to her knees on the next turning, smacking her chin against the concrete floor as she went down.

She held her jaw as she rolled over, watching Sam moving quickly through the shadows after her.

A lethal predator approaching his helpless prey.

A second shadowy figure suddenly cut Sam off, delivering a vicious right hook to his head. He leant over him to check he was alright, before he turned in his heavy biker boots, making his way towards the child in the middle of the alley.

Madison was hoping to see Dean as soon as the man stepped out of the shadows, but instead she saw a much older man. He had a shabby greying beard with moustache, bruises by his right eye and a familiar look to him.

"Are you okay?" He knelt down in front of her. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Dean finally made his way into the alleyway, finding his brother crashed out on the floor. He raised his gun to the man knelt down in front of Madison, before he caught sight of the man's face. "Dad?" He didn't know whether he was happy or angry to see the man. He definitely had great timing, but he knew that there was going to be a lot of arguments as soon as Sam came to.

* * *

"Okay, pull it away."

John Winchester pulled away the cold wash cloth from the child's jaw, checking on the huge purplish bruise beginning to form on her chin. He gently grabbed her bottom lip between his thumb and index finger, checking on the teeth marks inside her mouth, where her teeth had sunk into her lip on the fall. Her mouth had flooded with blood on the drive over to his motel room, but it looked as though the ice chips he had given her managed to stop the bleeding altogether.

"It looks okay. I don't think you'll need any stitches." He rinsed the wash cloth in the bowl of melting ice chips, replacing it to her jaw, before he went to check on his other patients.

His youngest son got away with just an ice pack to the side of his head and lots of apologies, while Dean had cuts and bruises all over from their bar fight. He was starting to wish that he could have been knocked out too, but he had to tolerate the pain, until the drugs finally kicked in.

"Dad, how did you find us?" Dean asked him, barely able to move from his position on the bed.

"I was working the case." His father took a seat beside the bed, unravelling the fresh bandages for his son's ribs. "I heard about a couple of detectives working the case, but I never would have figured it was you two. I couldn't believe it when I saw the Impala parked up outside the bar. Then I saw the kid running out the doors," He motioned over his shoulder towards her. "And Sam."

"The spirit possessed him." Dean watched his younger brother researching away on his computer, while he held an ice pack to his head. "Happened right after I took the gloves out. I don't know why."

"George Cranfield?" John checked that they had come to the same conclusion. "His partner killed him, you know. They were on a job together. His partner, Stanley was screwing his wife. He pushed George into a collapsing room to get him out of the way, only to die himself a month afterwards in a drink driving accident. George's spirit couldn't take it's revenge out on Stanley, since he was already dead, so it started targeting partners. The first ones to die, the business partners. The dental practice partners..."

"I never figured that out." Dean rolled his eyes at himself. "I thought the spirit was just targeting one of them, since the other one had no memories of it happening. I thought they were just in denial, since no one likes to believe that there's really evil in this world." He looked over at his younger brother again, feeling a little relieved to know that it was the spirit that had taken over, but it didn't make him feel any better about what was said. "Aren't you gonna ask about the kid?"

John shook his head, helping his son to sit forwards to bandage his ribs. "Madi told me that you're her protectors. I am gonna ask what you think you're doing. Do you really think that you and your brother have what it takes to raise a kid?"

"You raised us like this."

"That was different. I'm your father. It was my job to raise you." John fastened the bandages into place, assisting his son to lay back down. "It's not your job to raise an orphan, just because you feel responsible for her. Do you see what happened tonight? I would have never put you and your brother in danger like that. You have no idea what it's like to raise a child."

Sam glanced up at his brother, wondering if he was going to take that statement. If it had been anyone other than their father, he probably would have argued with him, but instead he just stayed quiet.

Sam set down the ice pack from his hands, smiling at Madison as she stumbled over to his side. "Let me see." He carefully removed the cloth from her chin, feeling even worse for what happened. He knew that he had no control over what the spirit made him do, but he blamed himself for every one of her injuries.

"She's been with us for four months and we've kept her safe." Dean informed his father. "She's even saved us a few times. She's a smart kid."

"That doesn't mean that she should stay with you." John disposed of the last blood covered bandages, throwing the aspirin bottle in his son's direction. "You boys can stay here. It's a friend of mines cabin, but he wouldn't mind you staying for a few days. Downstairs is packed full of weapons. There's devils traps and things around too." He motioned towards the one on the ceiling. "It's perfectly safe."

"You're leaving again?" Sam immediately jumped to his feet, realising that his father's bag was already packed up. "You can't even stay with us for five minutes, can you?"

"Sam." Dean groaned from his position on the bed. "Don't start now."

"Why do you always take his side, Dean? So he shows up now, but where is he when we really need him?"

"I'm not taking his side." Dean struggled to sit up, holding his ribs in agony. "If he wants to go, that's fine. We don't need him. Can't we just get along for once without all the arguments? We're supposed to be a family." He glared at his father then turned to his brother, getting reluctant nods from both of them.

"I'll go and get some food." John grabbed his car keys.

"How do we know you'll come back? You could just leave us out here in the middle of nowhere again." Sam tried to keep his question as civil as he could, but the expression on his face said it all. He didn't trust his father at all anymore. Dean still idolised the man, but Sam had grown out of that a long time ago. "I'll go with you. I know what Dean and Madison like."

"Fine." John decided not to argue, giving Dean a slight smile as he made his way towards the door. He held it open for his youngest son, gulping softly as it would be the first time they were alone together since their huge argument when Sam left them for college.

They were gone for just over two hours, returning in a slightly better mood than they left in. Dean could sense that they had another argument from the looks they kept exchanging. He knew his father had a mission to find and kill the demon that killed their mother and Sam wanted him to bring them along or stop the search, but both were too stubborn to see the others side of it. He just wished that they could get along, so he could have some resemblance of a real family.

He woke up after a few hours sleep, startled by the sound of arguing voices. He knew the peace between them wouldn't last very long, but he wasn't expecting it this soon.

Dean struggled to get out of bed, leaving Madison asleep beside him, while he made his way outside, where Sam and their father were having a heated discussion.

"Why can't I?" Sam sounded like a spoilt child. "What the demon did to us, to our family, it didn't just affect you. It affected all of us. This demon killed our Mom. It killed Jess. This is not just your mission."

"You've never wanted to be a part of this before. You left me and your brother, remember?"

"Do we always have to bring up the past?" Dean tried to get between them before they started throwing punches. "Can you two just have a conversation without tearing chunks out of each other? Where are you going?" He realised that his father's things were all packed up in his truck.

"I've got a lead." John simply stated. "I've been tracking this demon all your lives. It's only just started showing up again. It's like the thing just disappeared after your Mom."

"How do you know that it's back?" Sam folded his arms across his chest, demanding some answers.

"There's houses burning down to the ground, with families inside that have a young baby. It's going on all over the place. The only way I know how to find this demon is because of these omens. I've never gotten there in time to save them before."

"What omens?" Dean queried.

"It took me a while, but I think I've figured out the pattern." John opened up the back of his truck, pulling out a file full of his research. "This is from New Jersey." He laid it out on the hood of his truck. "Before the house fires, these things start popping up just a few days before it happens. Cattle deaths, temperature fluctuations, electrical storms... the usual demonic crap. Within a few days, there's always a house fire and the mother always dies in the nursery."

"Like what happened to Mom?" Sam finally started listening, rather than arguing. "Why'd it go after, Jess?"

"I don't know." His father told him the truth. "There's something else. I went back and checked, these omens started up in Lawrence, just a few days before your mother was killed. It seems to be targeting families with a six month old baby." He glanced up at Sam. "You were exactly six months old that night."

Sam rifled through his father's research, realising that the freak weather storms had started up just a week before his girlfriend, Jess was killed. "So, it was after me all along? What does this demon want with me and these kids?"

"I don't know." John shrugged his shoulders. "But they've started up again. I have to go to try and save them this time. And I can't bring you along, it's too dangerous."

"What the hell do you think we've been doing for the past year?" Sam snapped at him, starting up their argument again. "You're not going alone, it's suicide. If you're going after this demon, then I'm coming with you."

Dean sighed wearily, realising their father wanted to end this thing solo. It was his own vendetta against the thing that ruined their lives. He was ready to let him take the whole mission to himself, but he didn't want his brother to get himself killed in the process. He meant more to him than some mission that had controlled their whole lives.

"Sam..."

"No Dean, we have a right to be there. Isn't this the mission that you're always going about? It's what you said to me to drag me back into hunting again." He turned to look at his father. "You raised us on the mission to hunt and kill the thing that killed our Mom, now you don't want us around?"

"It's dangerous."

"Every day of our lives is dangerous. If you didn't want us around the danger, you shouldn't have raised us to hunt. You've even sent us on a few solo hunts yourself, so you can't be that worried about us. I'm going with you." Sam practically ordered his father. "I'm sick of you always barking orders at us, expecting us to follow them without question. We're not children anymore. We want to kill this thing as much as you do. This demon ruined our lives. You can't keep us away from the danger. So, where are we going?"

John gave up with a sigh, searching for the latest signs of omens in the clutter.

"Here. The signs are pointing to New Orleans. They started up a few days ago. We might already be too late, but we have to check it out. There hasn't been a house fire yet." He turned to look at Dean behind him, realising he was a little more reluctant to go with them. "The kid can't come with us. I don't want her blood on my hands too. I don't even think that you should come, Dean. You can barely walk."

"I can fight." Dean insisted. "We can leave her with Bobby."

"Singer?" John shook his head, folding away his research. "He's in the other direction. We have to move on this now. You come with us, you come alone." He warned him, packing up his truck. "C'mon, Sam."

Dean watched his brother abandoning him for a mission, feeling a little betrayed by him. He did stop to look back at him, probably hoping that he would come with, just to referee between himself and his father.

"I can't just abandon her, Sam." He turned him down, slowly turning back to the cabin behind him to see, Madison. She was still fast asleep in the bed with her teddy bear tucked under her arm and a knife stashed beneath her pillow. He hated his father for giving him an ultimatum like this, but he couldn't leave Madison on her own, while he joined the reckless mission to kill the most powerful demon they ever came across.

He stayed at the door to watch the truck driving off, feeling his stomach twisting with nerves as he feared he might never see either one of them again.

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**Thank you for reading! Thank you for all your reviews so far. Please review if you enjoyed it!**

**~ Holly**


	7. Chapter Six: Simple Rules of Fatherhood

**Hi guys, sorry it's been a very long time since I've updated this. I've just started going through some old story notes on my computer and managed to write a few extra chapters after refreshing my memory of the story. Thank you for reading and following this story so far. I'll try not to leave it too long before my next update this time. Thank you. Hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

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**Chapter Six - Simple Rules of Fatherhood**

"Madi c'mon, breakfast is ready. Let's go!" Dean slapped his hand against the banister of the stairs, giving out a heavy sigh as he turned back to the front room. "Three weeks and she still can't get up in time for school." He grabbed the child's backpack off the sofa, packing her books from last night into it. "Any word on any more omens?" He took a seat on the reverse facing chair in front of Bobby's desk. "Bobby..."

"Nah." The man shook his head, closing the book he had open in front of him, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Only the most powerful demons disrupt the area around them. It's like static when they cross over onto this plain. I've never seen anything like it before. John must have figured out a way to track them... probably some new age technology that doesn't have pages." He motioned towards his books. "I'm sorry, Dean. I don't know how to track them."

Dean sighed, combing his fingers through his hair. "Any idea where Sam and my Dad are now?"

"Sorry, Dean." He shook his head. "I've been keeping an eye out, using my sources to monitor anything like this, but there's no sign of any activity at the moment. I've been looking into that six month old baby thing, and there's a lot of rituals that witches use with a baby in them, but none that are specific to the six month mark. It could just be a coincidence."

"I don't believe in coincidences." Dean climbed to his feet, returning to the bottom of the stairs. "Madison, c'mon! School."

"I heard you." Madison finally appeared at the top of the stairs, grumpily making her way down them one step at a time. She still had pillow creased hair, but she was actually dressed and ready for school today. "I'm not hungry."

"I don't care, you're eating something before you go." Dean placed his hands on her shoulders, directing her through to the kitchen. He lifted her onto one of the chairs around Bobby's kitchen table, sliding the cereal bowl in her direction. "C'mon, it's Friday. Last day until the weekend."

"You're going away again, aren't you?" She noticed him packing up his Impala last night when he thought that she was sleeping. "To find Sam and your Dad?"

"No eh..." Dean took a seat opposite her, clasping his hands together on the table. "A friend of my Dad's has a lead on a job. I'll be gone a few days, tops. Bobby is gonna take care of you until I get back. He'll pick you up from school today and if I'm not back Monday, he'll get you up and ready."

"Do you have to go?"

"I'm still a hunter. I have a job to do. But I'll be back for you, I promise." He reached his fist across the table to her, giving it a little wiggle, until she fist bumped him back. "Eat up, you're already running late for school."

"Not late until the bell rings."

"Well, that's in five minutes." He showed her the time on his watch. "Do you think you can get to the school gate in that amount of time?"

"Yeah, because you're driving me." After finishing half of her cereal, Madison carried the bowl over to the sink, leaving it on the counter. She removed a hair band from her wrist, handing it over to Dean. He wasn't that great at styling her hair, but he could usually manage a simple ponytail. "Ow... ow... you're pulling my hair."

"Sorry, sorry..." Dean scooped the rest of her hair up, tying the band into place. He tried to smooth out the bumps and loose ends, before he hurried her out to his car, almost forgetting her backpack in the process. He raced to her school, pulling up behind the soccer Moms with his own little girl. "You got your knife?"

"In my bag." Madison pulled it on over her shoulders, reaching her hand over the seats to him. "Can I have some lunch money?"

He gave out a sigh, reaching into his pocket for his money clip. "You're expensive, kid."

He had only just bought her some new clothes for school, along with a bed to sleep in at Bobby's and some school supplies, now he still had to dish out money for lunches and extra food for when she got home. He was starting to realise why his father and Bobby had tried to warn him off raising a kid in this life.

"Here. Hey... do I get a hug?" He stopped her from climbing out of the car. She tucked the bills into her pocket, before she reached her arms over the front seat to hug him. "I'll see you soon, okay? Madi..." He called after her. "I'll be back, I promise."

Madison nodded her head, holding her backpack straps as she made her way into the school building with all the other late students.

Dean took off as soon as she was out of sight, tending to another hunt. He didn't resurface for four days this time, showing up with a huge dent in the roof of his beloved Impala. He was up bright and early the next morning to fix his baby, not noticing Madison creeping up on him, until she was right at his side.

"Jeez..." He held his chest, feeling his heart jumping from the shock. "Don't you have school?"

"Bobby said to give you this." She held out the plate to him with some sandwiches on it, before she adjusted her backpack on her shoulders. She had no idea why he was off with her this time, but she guessed that it had something to do with the hunt he had just been on.

Dean took a bite of one of the sandwiches, before he set the plate down on the work bench behind him. He dusted his hand down his overalls, picking up his tools to get back to work. He glanced over his shoulder as she started walking away, catching Bobby staring at him from the porch of his house. He tried to avoid looking up at him, but he was harder to avoid when he was stood watching him from the open Impala door with his arms folded across his chest.

"Can I help you?" Dean finally climbed out of the car, trading the tool in his hand for something else. "What, Bobby? What?" He snapped at him as he kept staring.

"Was that really necessary, Dean?" He kept his arms folded across his chest, watching him closely as he returned to his car. "She's been waiting for you to come back since you left and you can't even give her a hello? What the hell happened since you left her on Friday? Dean." He grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the car. "What happened?"

"I lost a kid!" Dean shouted at him, throwing the wrench against the door of his car, leaving a sharp scratch where it hit.

"On the hunt?" Bobby leant back against the work bench, giving Dean a moment to calm himself down. "What was it?"

"Some kind of hell bitch monster that only the kids could see." He put his back to the Impala, trying to remember what the hunter, Rufus had called it. "Feeds off their brains, only eats the brains of kids for their belief in the imaginary or something. It was targeting the kids in the paediatric unit in the hospital. Rufus was already there. He wanted to use the kids as bait." He leant back against his car, looking as though he was trying to hold back some tears. "I went along with it because I thought they'd be safe. It got a six year old before we stopped it."

Bobby sighed softly, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "So you think that pushing Madison away is going to help?"

"Why does she have to be my responsibility? Why, Bobby? She's not my kid."

"No, she's not." Bobby shook his head. "But you've already taken her in. You care about her, Dean. Pushing her away isn't going to make it hurt any less. Just like drinking only dulls the pain for a little while." He insightfully told him after years of experience. "You're better off just trying to put it behind you and hang onto what you've got, while you've got it. I know that sounds crap, but it's all us hunters have got."

Dean stared down at his feet, wishing it were that simple. He grabbed for the wrench out of the mud by his car, cringing as he ran his fingertips across the new dent in his door. "Sorry, baby. Hey, how'd she get to school?" He called after Bobby as he started walking away.

"Bus. It stops right at the end of the block." Bobby motioned Dean's attention towards the uneaten sandwich. "Eat something, Dean. You have to keep your strength up."

"Yeah." Sighing softly, Dean tossed the wrench aside, noticing a sweet still in its wrapper on the edge of his plate. He knew it was one of Madison's, rather than Bobby's, as she was always asking for them. He stuffed it in his shirt pocket for later, turning back to his car to try and fix her up, before he had to take her out again.

* * *

After school finished up, Madison climbed aboard the bus with her backpack, taking a seat halfway down the left side. She rode it all the way through the local neighbourhood, until it reached the stop just before Singer Salvage Yard. She stepped off the bus with her backpack, surprised to see Dean stood at the bus stop with his hands stuffed into his pockets. He had a black grease smear on his forehead and dirt down his jeans and shirt from working on his car all day.

"Hey," He gave her a smile, waiting for the bus to drive away, before he took a step closer. "Listen," He licked his lips, kneeling down in front of her. "I wasn't mad at you this morning. I just... that hunt I went on, it didn't go so well."

"Did you kill it?" Madison queried, holding the straps of her backpack on her shoulders.

Dean gave her a slight nod. "Yeah, it's gone. It got someone that I was trying to protect first though. A little girl. A little bit younger than you."

Madison took a step closer to him, putting her arms around his shoulders, the same way he had hugged her when she was upset. She pulled back after a moment, rubbing her fingers across the grease smear on his head until it was almost gone. "Did you fix her?"

Dean smiled at her as she referred to his car as a lady. "Almost. She just needs a paint job. You wonna help?" He pushed himself to his feet, reaching out for her hand. "You got any homework?"

"Yeah," She took his hand, walking back with him to the Salvage Yard. "I got spelling and maths homework today."

"You better do those first then." Dean led the way through the heaps of old cars, taking her over to his Impala set up by Bobby's open garage. He lifted her onto a set of old back car seats, so she had somewhere to sit to do her homework, while he got back to work on mending his baby.

Madison finished up her maths homework first, joining Dean in the front of the Impala for a few pizza slices for their dinner. "How did you kill it?" She queried, going for a second slice from the box between them.

"The monster? We chopped it's head off." He grabbed one of the napkins, wiping off his sticky fingers. "The thing could only be killed while it was feeding. It's powerless while its feeding, so it was the only way." He reached for the cooler outside his car, grabbing himself a beer. He was almost going to grab another to hand to Sam, but then he remembered that he wasn't with him anymore. "So, what'd you do over the weekend with Bobby?"

"He taught me to track a deer."

"He did?" Dean cracked open the beer can outside the door, sipping the foam from the top. "He didn't let you shoot it, did he?"

Madison shook her head. "He said we can go again next weekend."

"Hey, don't drop pizza on the leather." He quickly grabbed another napkin, mopping up the mess she had made. He started wiping the red smudge on her t-shirt next, before he wiped her sticky little fingers and chin, finally realising what he was doing as he saw the look in her eyes. "Hey, it's getting late. You should get to bed."

Dean slid his hands beneath her arms, quickly lifting her out of the car.

"Go on, I'll be there in a minute. Here, take the pizza with you." He quickly shoved the box into her hands, sending her on her way. He dropped his head into his hands as soon as she was gone, wishing they had just ditched her from the start. He wasn't cut out for fatherhood. He was still craving some kind of recognition or attention from his own father.

"Hey," Bobby glanced up as he finally returned to the house. "How's the Impala looking?"

"As good as new. I should do this kind of thing professionally." He smirked, grabbing a fresh beer from the fridge. "Where's the kid?"

"Bed." The man took a seat behind his desk, rearranging the books he had gone through already. He glanced up to watch Dean picking up her things from the coffee table, before he could put his feet up on it. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Dean took a swig from his beer, feeling something sharp against his back. He reached between the sofa cushions, finding a bobby pin. "Why is her stuff everywhere? Can't she keep it in the one room? I found a freaking crayon under the pedals in my car earlier."

"Kids are messy."

"You know what else, they don't respect property. She bedazzled my freaking wallet." He pulled it out of his jeans pocket, showing Bobby the pretty pink gems glued to the outside of his wallet in the shape of a heart. The older man couldn't help but chuckle at his pain. "It's not funny, Bobby. There's stickers all over my cassette tapes and a dolls entire wardrobe in my glove compartment."

"Looks like you're being bombed with the full force of parenthood." Bobby informed him. "Stop getting your panties in a twist, Dean. At least she's alive. Do you know how many hunters would kill to have their kids back in their lives? You got lucky finding her, but nobody lives forever. You might as well enjoy it while it lasts."

"Fatherhood?" Dean frowned in his direction. "I didn't ask for this."

"Tough, you've got it, so quit your whining. You saved her, so she's your responsibility. You wonna ditch her, you might as well head out back and dig her grave. Because that's where she'll end up without you." Bobby threw down a book on his desk, before he loudly scraped his chair back against the floor. He disappeared out the door a moment later, leaving Dean to drink the rest of his beer.

He took a few heavy gulps, before he rolled his eyes.

"Screw it." He ditched the beer, grabbing his jacket and keys to make his way out for the night.

He met a waitress, Brandi after one or two drinks, planning on spending the rest of the evening with her, until he noticed the braded multi coloured bracelet that Madison had made for him around his wrist.

She made it for him out of some spare thread to take his mind off the stitches that Bobby was putting in his arm, after a werewolf tried to slice him open.

Letting the waitress down as gently as he could in her bedroom, Dean gathered up his boots and jacket from the floor, returning to Bobby's house. He made his way up the stairs to get some sleep, stopping by her bedroom door. He pushed it open slightly, smiling as Madison still had her teddy bear tucked under her arm.

Dean stepped into the room, retrieving her sheets from the bottom of the bed to tuck around her. He knelt down beside her, gently brushing her brown hair from her face as she continued to sleep. He spotted a drawing hidden beneath her bed, lifting it to eye level to take a look.

He immediately smiled as he saw the Impala on the sheet of paper, along with her own cartoony drawings of himself and his younger brother, Sam. He replaced it to the spot beneath her bed, gritting his teeth together as she started to wake up. He bumped into her nightstand as he turned to leave, rattling the bedside lamp and knocking a few crayons and pencils onto the floor.

Quickly steadying the lamp with his hands, Dean cast his eyes towards the sleeping child, giving out a soft sigh as she remained fast asleep. He left the crayons and things where they were, quickly slipping out of the room, before he bumped into anything else.

"Kissing her goodnight?" Bobby gave him a grin, appearing at the end of the hall.

"You know, instead of making fun of this situation all the time, you could try helping me here." He pointed out to him. "What am I supposed to do, raise her like this? Bring her up the way my Dad brought me up or just leave her here whenever I go on a hunt? Yeah, I'm sure that's every little girls dream to grow up in a scrap heap full of cars with monsters knocking at the door."

"You could give it up." He suggested, making his way downstairs to continue with his research.

"Hunting, you mean?" He quickly followed the man into his office, keeping his voice down. "It's not something that you can just give up, Bobby. How many hunters do you even know that gave it up and are still alive today?"

"A few." Bobby shrugged his shoulders. "I know a few in retirement. Locked in their houses with their devils traps and weapons to keep them safe. I know one or two fellas in the loony bin. But there are some hunters that have gone off the grid completely, surviving a somewhat normal existence."

"You think I could do that. Go off the grid, get some average Joe, apple pie life with a job to raise the kid? I don't even have any skills."

Bobby smirked, rolling his eyes at the younger man. "You were just saying earlier that you should go professional as a mechanic. You've got tons of skills, Dean. And isn't an average Joe life exactly what you've always wanted? When are you gonna stop complaining and just start doing, Dean?"

Dean muttered something under his breath, making his way to Bobby's fridge to grab himself a beer. He groaned finding the usual shelf completely empty. "Hey Bobby, you're all out of beer. And milk." He shook the almost empty bottle, before he checked the cupboards for any food. "Do you even shop?"

"I don't usually have long term house guests that eat all my food and drink all my beers. Go to the store." Bobby snapped at him from the other room, feeling as though he had his own child to take care of. He rested against his elbow on the desk, trying to stay awake as he read the book in front of him. "Where are you going?" He spotted his house guest pulling on his jacket again.

"The store, you've got nothing for Madison's breakfast tomorrow."

"She can have toast."

"What with this green furry bread?" Dean showed him the evidence, tossing the bag of mouldy bread aside. He adjusted the collar to his jacket, feeling a sudden chill in the room. "Can you feel that?" He rubbed his arm, peering out into the hallway of Bobby's house. He frowned as the front door was wide open, but he was sure that he closed it on the way in. He took a look outside, giving out a soft sigh as he pushed the door shut. "You left the front door open."

"It wasn't me, yah idgit. It was probably you when you came in." Bobby accused him right back, looking up at the ceiling as his lights started flickering. "Ghost?" He slowly pushed himself to his feet, watching Dean going for one of the iron fire pokers. "Demon?"

"I don't know. Here." Dean pulled out his bag of supplies from beneath the sofa, dropping it onto Bobby's desk. "Have you pissed anything off recently?"

"Probably, always some butt ugly out there looking for revenge. You?"

"Too many to count." He pumped his shotgun full of salt rounds, grabbing a silver knife, just in case it wasn't a spirit. He watched and waited for something to come at him, starting to get a little bored as the lights were the only sign that anything was even here. "Maybe your electrics just dodgy?" He suggested, holding the gun tight to his shoulder as he stepped out in the hall. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, noticing a strange looking powder on the bottom step. He knew Bobby wasn't crazy about cleaning, but it didn't look like dust.

"What is that?" Bobby crept up behind him.

Dean stabbed his knife into the powder, raising it to eye level.

"Sulphur." He dropped the knife, taking the stairs up two at a time to Madison's bedroom. "No, no, no!" He panicked, throwing back her covers, checking under the bed and in her wardrobe, but there was no sign of her anywhere. "They got her." He tossed the mattress as Bobby came into the room. "A demon got her. Now do you think she's better off with me? She's as good as dead."

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**There it is finally, chapter 6. ****There will be 9 Chapters total for this story, along with an Epilogue. I'll start uploading them as soon as I've had a chance to beta read through them. ****Thanks so much for reading! Please review if you enjoyed it.**

**~ Holly**


	8. Chapter Seven - Mortal Danger

**Chapter Seven - Mortal Danger**

Inhaling a deep breath, Madison wiped the sweat from her forehead, taking another step further into the haunted house. With every step, she felt the room becoming colder as though she walking into a freezer. She silently encouraged herself to keep going, raising the iron bar at her side as she approached an open door at the end of the hall. She tried to keep her hand as steady as she could, but her wrists had a permanent tremble that she hadn't been able to shake since she entered the house.

In theory, she thought she knew a lot about ghosts and vengeful spirits. Her father taught her the basics when he was around, then Dean and Sam filled in the blanks about their weaknesses and the different sets of rules that applied to certain types of deaths.

In the real world, she hadn't taken out a spirit by herself. She had stood by as the Winchester brothers vanquished them with salt or iron, before they burnt their bones or a personal item that they might have been attached to.

But now she was all alone.

Swallowing hard, Madison entered the study, curiously looking around at the shelves of dusty old books that looked as though they hadn't been touched in years. As she took a step closer to the desk in the middle, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as the temperature suddenly dropped a few more degrees.

She turned around suddenly, making sure that there was nothing behind her, before she let her guard down to see what was on the desk. She found pages and pages of the same name written down hundreds of times. They didn't mean anything to her, but they appeared to mean something to someone.

Leaving the pages where she found them, Madison continued to explore the rest of the house, trying to remember what Dean had been teaching her during the past few days. He told her to listen to her instincts more than anything, but right now they were only telling her to run.

She couldn't do that.

If she didn't try to do something, Dean could die and she'd end up all alone again.

She pushed open a set of double doors just off the extended library, catching her breath frosting in front of her. She immediately raised the iron bar at her side, feeling a little bit sick as her nerves started to get the better of her.

But then she spotted...

"Dean." She called out to him, running clear across the empty room towards him. He was barely conscious, but he appeared to be alive, bound and gagged to a chair.

His head swam with confusion, but he could just about make out the blurred image of the child in front of him as she pulled the gag out of his mouth. He focused on taking in a few deep breaths, before he tried his move, but the itchy ropes bound around his wrists kept him seated. "Ma... Madi..."

"Dean. Dean, wake up." He heard a familiar voice that sounded very distant to him. It was much too gruff to belong to the child in front of him. More like the voice of a grumpy old drunk that he had gotten to know a lot more since the disappearance of his own father. "Dean!" His voice hissed in his direction this time.

Dean's eyes started to focus on the room he was actually in, rather than the one from his dream. He vaguely remembered the demons attacking them at Bobby's house the night before, feeling his head buzzing from the crowbar they whacked him with.

"Hey, you still fuzzy? You've been talking in your sleep." Bobby leant as far forwards as his own restraints would allow, looking across at Dean in the opposite chair. "Empty old warehouse in the middle of nowhere."

"Great." Dean's voice croaked. "Where's Madison?"

"I heard them talking earlier, they've got her in a room back there." Bobby motioned over his shoulder. "What were you dreaming about? You kept saying her name."

"Doesn't matter." He licked his dry lips, testing the restraints around his arms. He tried to slip the ropes tied just above his biker boots, but they were too tight while his boots were still on. "Demons?"

"As far as I can tell." Bobby nodded. "Don't know what they want with us, but we should be grateful that their orders are to bring us in alive." He motioned Dean's attention towards the other end of the warehouse, keeping quiet as two demon possessed men made their way inside the large sliding door. He tried to take a peek outside while the door was open, but he only saw a bunch of trees, which could mean they were anywhere.

"Hey!" Dean called out to them, playing by his own set of rules rather than Bobby's. "I'm starving over here. Yah hear me? Get me some pie, you fugly son of a bitch."

* * *

"Sammy, wake up."

John Winchester slapped his son's feet with the newspaper in his hand, waiting for his youngest to open his eyes, before he dropped the paper into his hands. He started gathering his things a moment later, leaving Sam to read through the report of the house fire in Oklahoma, survived by father and six month old, Halle Gray.

"We missed it?" Sam pushed himself up from the chair, feeling a cramp in his back. "But the usual demonic signs only just started up yesterday. The mother's dead." He felt his heart sink.

"Grab your stuff, we're leaving."

"Where?"

"You know just for once, Sam, I'd like you to just do as I ask without interrogating me." He almost lost his temper with him again. "Yellow eyes is in Dakota. The signs started up middle of last night. I tried calling your brother, but he's not picking up. Bobby's not answering either, so we can't depend on him to check out it. Now grab your stuff. We have to get there before the Demon does this to another family." John grabbed his bag, eager to get out of there before another family suffered the same fate as his own. He hated always being one step behind the demon, but he was starting to feel as though they were finally catching up.

Giving up wasn't an option.

Sam quickly threw his things into his duffel, snatching his cell off the desk. He hit Dean's speed dial on the way out the door, feeling a chill running down his spine as his brother didn't even answer to him. "Hey Dean, it's Sam. Give me a call when you get this." He left him a message. "How many times did you try Bobby?" He hurried after his father, climbing in the passenger side of his father's truck. "Whatever went on between you guys, you've gotta get over it. This is more important than some argument."

"It was about you and your brother." John put the car in drive, pulling out of the motel parking lot. "Bobby thought he knew exactly what was best for you and your brother, trying to tell me how to raise my boys."

"That was it?" Sam frowned at him, trying Bobby's number this time. "Bobby threatened to fill you with buckshot's because you fell out over parenting us?"

"I'm your father. He doesn't have any right to tell me how to do my job!"

"Hey Bobby, it's Sam. Give me a call as soon as you get this message. It's urgent." He sighed softly, snapping the cell shut against his leg.

Leaving his father to drive them back to Bobby's, Sam tried every number he had for his brother, coming up with nothing every time.

"I've tried all of Dean's phones, including the one he gave, Madison. He's not picking up any of them. Something's wrong. What if the demon already got to them? It could have killed them or set some kind of trap."

"Sam." His father glanced at him for a moment, before he turned back to the road. "Your brother knows how to handle demons. Bobby has more experience than any of us put together. He taught me everything I know. There's no way that son of a bitch could take either of them out, without them putting up one hell of a fight. And we'd know if something happened to Dean." He pointed out to him, glancing in his direction again. "He'll be alright, Sammy."

"It's Sam." He corrected his father for nearly the hundredth time during their trip. "You don't know my brother like I do. He puts on his tough attitude to be like you, but inside, he's scared to be alone. It's why he came to get me, when you disappeared on him."

Instead of joining in on their usual argument, John reached for the radio between them, hitting the power button. He kept his eyes on the road as Bon Jovi started up, reminding Sam of his brother even more.

Just over twelve hours later, John pulled into the driveway of Singer Salvage Yard, letting Sam take the lead. His son hurried straight up the stairs to search the bedrooms, leaving him to look around downstairs. He found Bobby's research scattered around his desk, stumbling upon a summoning spell that the man had kept hidden from him. He stuffed it into his jacket pocket as Sam came running back down the stairs, shaking his head as there was no sign of anyone.

"There's sulphur by the window." John Winchester pointed it out to him. "It doesn't mean that yellow eyes was here. It could have been from any number of demons that are after us."

"Why would any demon take them anyway?" Sam shouted, pointing an accusing finger in his father's direction. "This is all your fault."

"My fault?"

"If you hadn't have come back, I would have still been with Dean and Madison. And none of this would have happened."

"You made your choice, Sammy. You abandoned your brother to continue the family mission to kill the son of a bitch that ruined our lives. You made that choice, Sam, not me. Live with it." He barked at him, grabbing the records off Bobby's desk. "Looks like he's been doing his own research. He narrowed the list down to four children who are exactly six months old this week. The demon could hit any one of these houses in the next few days. We find the demon, we find your brother and the kid."

"And Bobby." Sam reminded him, pulling his cell from his pocket to call his brother's number. He didn't hear it ringing anywhere in the house, giving him hope that he might be able to track the GPS on it to find out where he was. "You can go after the demon if you want. I'm going for my brother."

"Sam." John called after him. "This demon is gonna hit anyone of these houses in the next few days. I need your help."

"My brother's more important." Sam insisted, grabbing Bobby's keys off the table. "You do what you want, I'm going to find, Dean."

* * *

"Deee-an. Dean. Dean."

The man sung his name, tapping his cheek with his palm, until he finally opened his eyes. Dean flinched in his restraints, taking a moment to look around the room he was in. It appeared to be the same burnt out warehouse in the middle of nowhere that he was in before, only Bobby wasn't with him anymore and he was in a great deal of pain.

Steel and wooden crates were visible at the far end, along with the flicker of candle lights in the darkness, but he couldn't tell where he was from that. He looked down at himself as soon as he had scooped out his surroundings, choking on the gag in his mouth. His arms were painfully restrained behind his back and his ankles were fastened to the uncomfortable metal chair he had been sat in.

He realised now that his plan to piss off the demons was a bad one after the hours of torture. Every muscle ached, every cut tingled and the bruises on his face were starting to swell, making it even more difficult to breathe.

"Nice of you to finally wake up." The yellow eyed demon gave him a sinister grin, before he took a step to the left. "I was getting a little bored waiting for you to wake up, so I had a little fun with your friend, Bobby here." He revealed the older man tied to a chair opposite him with various little cuts, burns and bruises covering his face and arms too. "Relax Dean, Bobby's a lot tougher than he looks."

Dean struggled as much as he could in his restraints, but the ropes were too tight. He tried to move the gag out of his mouth so he could speak, but it was tied so tightly round the back of his head, it was forcing his tongue to the back of his throat.

"And don't worry about the kid either, she's quite a handful, but I've got a couple of my guys keeping an eye on her." He tapped Dean on the shoulder as he tried to bite through his gag in anger. "Now you're probably wondering what you're doing here? You see, Daddy dearest and that brother of yours have been screwing up my plans for the next generation. I got one past them in Oklahoma, but they're on their way here now. And what will they find?" He grabbed a handful of Dean's hair, holding his head back at an awkward angle. "Poor big brother, Dean. All torn up. You think that will send them the right message? Maybe I should burn you alive like I did with dear old, Mom."

Dean wriggled and squirmed in his restraints, giving the demon in front of him the death glare.

"It's almost over, Dean. Hang in there just a little bit longer, champ." The demon clapped him over the shoulder, smirking as he turned away from the Winchester. "First I gotta go deal with some business. Hang in there, sport. I'll be back for yah."

Dean shouted as loud as he could through his gag, trying to get the demon to stop, but it had already vanished. He glanced towards Bobby in front of him, feeling his heart sinking in his chest as the man was so torn up. He turned his head away as a blinding light came from behind them, widening his eyes at the sight of Madison being brought in by a demon. He struggled in his restraints even more, feeling the ropes around his left wrist becoming a little lose. He stayed put as the demon got closer, looking at the knife he was holding to the little girl's throat.

"Hi Dean, remember me?" The demon who tortured him earlier smugly smiled at him, grabbing a handful of Madison's hair. He tilted her head to the side, holding the knife point right to her throat. "How about we have a little more fun? Do you think she's a screamer like you?" He took a step closer to him, letting him see the trickle of blood running down the child's neck. "I've never tortured a child before, so this should be pretty interesting, not to mention entertaining."

Dean tried to get her to look into his eyes by lowering his head, giving her a quick wink.

Madison ignored the pain in her neck, trying to think back to her training with Dean over the past few weeks. She always complained that she was too small to do any real damage to a demon, but he had taught her how to use her small height to her advantage.

Waiting for the demon to ease up his grip on her hair, Madison watched him slicing the blade through her arm in full view of Dean to provoke him, before she suddenly elbowed him in the gut. The force was enough to make him drop the blade, but it still wasn't close enough to Dean.

"You little." The demon slugged her in the jaw, sending her toppling to the floor. "For that, I'll skin you alive, maggot."

Madison scurried across the floor for the blade, sliding it through the ropes binding Dean's wrist, before she placed the handle in his open palm. She took a step back, cringing as Dean immediately stuck the blade through the demon's heart, giving it a good twist just to make sure. He quickly cut himself free, getting in a fighting stance as the creature got up.

A knife through the heart would have killed most things, but demon's could take any amount of pain to their host body and still live.

"I think I'm gonna kill you just a little more than usual, you evil son of a bitch." Dean threatened the demon, lunging at him with the knife.

While the demon was distracted with Dean, Madison hurried over to where Bobby was tied up, pulling the gag from his mouth first. She tugged on the tight knots binding his wrists and ankles, hearing him starting to chant the familiar Latin phrases for expelling a demon.

"Not today!"

The demon clocked Dean with his elbow, sending him straight to the ground. He charged towards Bobby as he chanted his Latin phrases, knocking him off his feet with one punch.

"Better try harder than that, old man. That all you got?" He taunted the men, struggling to get to their feet again. "Kinda pathetic, especially from a Winchester." He kicked Dean in the chest, rolling the man over onto his back. He snatched up the knife from his hand, smugly smiling as he looked down in his eyes. "I thought you Winchester's were supposed to be tough. You're nothing but a scared little boy."

Dean tilted his head back to look at the chair, returning the demon's smile with one of his own. He grabbed for the chair legs, swinging it into the unexpected demon's head. "Finish it, Bobby." He scrambled for the knife.

Bobby wiped the blood from his lip, reciting the Latin exorcism, while Dean kept him distracted with his fists. "Adinos!" He finally shouted, shielding his eyes as the black dust cloud expelled itself from the beaten body of the man. It shot out of him up into the air, escaping through an open hatch in the warehouse ceiling.

"We have to get out of here." Dean assisted the man to his feet, kneeling down in front of Madison to inspect her injuries. He tore off the cuff of his shirt sleeve, tying it around the cut on her arm, before he took her hand. "I'll get you out of here, I promise." He climbed to his feet, handing the knife over to Bobby, so he could lead the way.

The entrance to the warehouse was well guarded, so they took the stairs up to the next platform, keeping low so they wouldn't be seen. It was covered with thick layers of dust and cobwebs, but Bobby could see a clear path through to the skylight of the next building over. He bridged the short gap between them first, holding himself up right against one of the metal beams, before he reached his hand across for Madison.

"C'mon, sweetie. I gotcha." He helped her across, doing the same for Dean.

It appeared to be empty on this side, so he hurried for the stairs, completely missing the demon hidden away in the shadows.

It appeared out of nowhere, punching the old man in the face, before he did the same to Dean.

"No!" Dean watched the demon grabbing Madison's wrist. He lunged forwards after him, but the demon gave the child a sudden forceful shove. There was no barrier separating them from the great fall to the warehouse floor, so she fell straight to the ground. "No! Madi." He tried to push the demon aside, but he was too strong. He kicked and squirmed in the bigger man's arms, feeling tears burning his eyes as the child lay helplessly on the warehouse floor.

He thought if he could see her move he'd know that she was okay, but she was so still.

He had failed.

"Madi..."

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**Thank you for reading and reviewing so far. More on the way soon. **

**~ Holly**


	9. Chapter Eight - Out of the Business

**Chapter Eight: Out of the Business**

"Are you following me?" Sam had pulled the car over when he saw his father's truck following him in the rear view mirror. He wasn't exactly very subtle about it, so he caught on pretty quick. Sam slammed the door shut to the car, marching towards his father. "You made it pretty clear that this demon took priority over your own son, so why are you following me?"

"I think that the yellow eyed demon took him." John climbed out of his truck, showing him his research. "I searched all around Bobby's place. These weren't just ordinary demons that took them. I think yellow eyes was part of the attack, which means that this was a trap for us. Yellow eyes knew we would go after him. I don't want you walking into a trap by yourself."

"So that's the only reason you're coming along with me, because you think the demon will be there." Sam rolled his eyes at the man, realising how predictable he was. "I'll find Dean myself. He's my brother."

"How about you stop fighting me for five seconds, so we can help your brother? You need me, Sam. Get back in the car." He ordered him, popping the door open to his truck. "If yellow eyes has him, he's expecting the both of us to come and get him back. This is our chance to kill him. We have the colt. He doesn't know that we have it."

"He has Madi too. He has my brother. He has Bobby. They're my family." Sam turned to face him. "I don't care if we kill the demon or not, they're what's important to me. They should be important to you too. Dean is your son. Bobby's your friend. Mom is dead. She's been gone for years. Dean's still alive and I'm gonna save him." He hurried back towards his car, taking off for the warehouse where Dean's cell phone signal was coming from.

He could see his father's truck in the rear view mirror the whole time, thinking that it should have comforted him that he would be there with him, but he knew that he had an ulterior motive.

Sam pulled up a short way from the warehouse, hurrying round the back of Bobby's car for some weapons. He could see two demons stood at the front entrance, so he crept around the outside, finding another way in. It was pitch black inside now that the sun had gone in, but he didn't want to risk using a flashlight in case it alerted them to his presence. He crouched low behind some old crates as he heard voices, peering through a gap in them as he spotted his brother being dragged out of a little room.

"Easy." John appeared beside him, placing his hand on his shoulder to keep him hidden. He watched the demon's dragging his son's beaten body across the warehouse floor, before he helped his son to his feet. "Sammy, wait. Think about this..."

Sam shrugged off his father's hand, keeping close to the wall as he hurried on ahead. He checked to make sure the room beside him was clear, quickly making a beeline into it as a demon came by. He waited for him to pass, realising his father had disappeared again.

Never mind. He didn't need him to save his brother. They were doing just fine on their own, before he suddenly decided to show up again.

Hurrying on by the other empty rooms, Sam burst into the room where his brother was being held, using the taser from his pocket to knock the demon out. "Hey, Dean." He gently tapped his brother's cheek, loosening the restraints around his wrists. "C'mon Dean, wake up."

"Sam." Still a little dazed from his last beating, Dean blinked his eyes open and shut a few times, trying to focus on the image in front of him. His face was bruised and swollen. Blood was dribbling from his nose and lip, but Sam knew his brother and he knew he'd still have some fight left him in.

"C'mon Dean, we have to get out of here."

"She's gone, Sammy."

"What?" He loosened the last restraint around Dean's ankle.

"Madi..." Dean croaked, struggling to even hold his head up. "They... pushed her... she's gone."

His brother paused, feeling his heart throbbing. "What...?"

"She's not dead." John appeared in the doorway, reporting, "Bobby's in the room across the hall. Madi is on the table. She's not dead."

"But she fell." Dean protested, seeing her go over that edge himself.

"We have to get you out of here." John assisted his son to his feet, remaining silent as a demon passed by the door. He tried to stop Sam from grabbing the colt tucked in the waistband of his jeans, but he was already out the door with it. "Sam." He hissed after him. "Damn it, Sammy, you don't know what you're doing."

Sam hurried across to the other room before the demon came back, untying Bobby, before he checked over the child on the table. She definitely had a pulse. It was weak, but she was still alive. "Hey, Madi... hey... hey." He didn't want to tap her or shake her, especially with the blood around her head, but he needed to know for sure.

"I think she's got a head injury. I couldn't wake her." Bobby pulled the gag from his mouth, grabbing an extra weapon from Sam. "Those sons of bitches wouldn't let me help her. I thought the fall woulda killed her, but she's a tough kid. We've gotta get her out of here though. Demons are crawling all over this place now. You got a plan?"

Sam held up the colt he had taken from his father.

"I wouldn't think that John's too happy about that." Bobby took the gun anyway, leaving Sam to lift the child from the table. He really needed to get her to a hospital, but they had to get out of here first. "Ready?" Bobby held the gun out in front of him, taking point.

"Wait, Bobby... take this." Sam handed him the shotgun loaded with salt rounds from his jacket. He knew the colt had limited bullets, so they couldn't rely on just that to get out of here. "Go." He adjusted the child in his arms, following close behind the man who had the only gun that could kill demons in his hands.

He could see the anger all over his father's face after taking it away from him, but there were a lot more in demons that needed killing in this world than just yellow eyes. He just wished that his father saw it that way. He seemed to care more about the mission then his family at the moment, defeating the whole point of exacting vengeance on the demon that destroyed their family in the first place.

"How'd you get in here?" Bobby whispered, sticking close to the wall.

"There's an entrance down the other end." Sam motioned towards it. "Not too far."

"Sam, give me back the colt." John met up with them, sounding like a spoilt child who had just had his favourite toy taken away. "Sammy, I need it." He lunged forwards, stopping in his tracks as a demon appeared behind his son. He turned around, still supporting Dean against his shoulder, realising they were behind them too. "Sam!" He hissed.

"Bobby, shoot them." Sam barked at him, ignoring his father. He caught the look that Bobby gave the man, looking as though he was asking permission to use it. "Do it, Bobby. Or we'll all dead."

"Don't." John objected.

"John." The yellow eyed demon appeared in the midst of their argument. "It's been so long since we last saw each other and you were just gonna slip out of here without so much as a hello. You Winchester types." He shook his head, folding his arms across his chest. "Is that what I think it is?" He noticed the gun in Bobby's hand.

"Yeah, the colt. You ugly son of a bitch." Bobby smugly smiled at him. "So unless you want me to stick this thing where the sun don't shine, I suggest you let us all leave here."

The demon couldn't help but laugh, clapping his hands together. He motioned around to the demons surrounding them, making him a new suggestion, "I suggest you put that thing down, before you get all your friends killed, Mr Robert Singer. You're good at that, aren't you? Getting loved ones killed. Do they all know what you did to your wife?" He grinned at him. "So John, you finally catch up to me after all these years and the gun isn't even in your possession. That's gotta be tough."

"I'll still kill you, you son of a bitch." John threatened him, letting his son stand up for himself. He glanced round at Bobby, taking a step closer to yellow eyes. "I'm gonna send every last one of you sons of bitches right back to hell, where you belong."

When he got the signal, Bobby tossed the colt through the air in John's direction, grabbing a shotgun loaded with salt rounds from Sam to fight off the other demons.

It didn't kill them, but it slowed them down some and it hurt like hell, which was always good, giving Sam the chance to get away with Madison in his arms.

"Dean." Bobby threw him an extra knife.

Even in his weakened state, Dean managed to throw a demon into the swarming crowd, watching Bobby's back as he blasted a way out for them. He wanted to go back for his father, but the man had the colt in one hand a knife in the other. He was the strongest man he knew, but even he wasn't a match for all the demons.

"We can't just leave him, Bobby." Dean fought against him as the man tried to the bolt to the door behind them. "He's my Dad. He'll die in there."

"I'll go." Bobby loaded some more salt rounds into the shotgun. "Go on, get out of here, you idgit. You get out of here with Sam and Madi. I'll go back for John. As long as you boys are safe, that's all that matters." He heard a gunshot behind him, hoping it was John using the colt on yellow eyes. He watched Dean to make sure he got away for a moment, before he pulled the door open, blasting his way back inside.

"Sammy!" Dean held his ribs, running as fast as his legs could carry him towards the cars. He ducked as Sam appeared from behind Bobby's car, skidding to the concrete as he saw the gun his brother was holding to him. "Damn it, Sam. It's me. Dean. It's me." He straightened up as he lowered the gun, noticing Madison on the back seat. "Bobby's got Dad. We have to go."

"You're just gonna leave him. Just like that." Sam argued.

"Damn it, Sam. Would you just listen to one of us for once. Instead of arguing all the frigging time." He shouted back at him. "We have to go. Madison needs to go to the hospital. Do you want her to die?"

"No." Sam sighed softly, before he suddenly flicked water at his brother.

"What the hell." Dean wiped his face. "Holy water? Are you frigging kidding me?"

"I had to make sure." His younger brother defended himself.

"Bitch." Dean pulled up his sleeve, wiping the water from his bruised face.

"Quit whining and get in the car. Jerk." Sam hurried round to the driver's seat of Bobby's car, waiting just a moment longer to see if his father came out, before he started up the car. He watched Dean tending to the child in the back as though she was his own, hoping that she would survive as he drove them off to the nearest hospital.

Dean passed himself off as her father once they arrived, simply explaining that she fell to the doctors. He couldn't exactly give them all details about the bunch of demons that were after them and pushed her from a great height, so he tried to distract them with the fact that she needed urgent medical attention.

"Please, just help her!"

"Alright, get her through to exam room one." The lead doctor ordered. "If you want us to help her, you're going to have to wait out here." She was cute, but Dean had no interest in her right now. Under normal circumstances, he would have come up with a line to get her into bed later, but instead he hung back, watching them wheeling Madi away through the set of double doors.

Dean stared at the doors for what felt like hours, hoping that she would survive. He wasn't the praying kind of guy, but if the big man was ever going to listen to him, now would be the time.

"You don't have insurance." Sam took a seat beside him in the relatives room, handing him the extra coffee mug from his hands.

"I have her Dad's, Taylor's." Dean held up the card to him. "It's how I registered her in the school. I switched out his picture for mine." He clutched her father's fog watch in his hands, brushing his thumb across the inscription on the back. "She doesn't belong in this world, Sammy."

"We've gone over this before..."

"The kid is in there having brain surgery to relieve the pressure on her skull. Even Dad was more careful than that with us." Dean interrupted him, pocketing the fog watch. "We had the occasional cut, scratch or broken bone, but nothing as serious as brain surgery. I almost got her killed by thinking I could still be a hunter and a father figure to her. She won't survive another day in this life. Not around us."

"So what, you just wonna ditch her?" Sam looked at him surprised. "Dean, this isn't your fault. This is Dad's mission creeping up on us again. Him and his stupid obsession to kill the demon that got Mom brought those demons here. They're responsible for this. You can't just leave her after all of this."

"Not leaving her." Dean shook his head, climbing up from his chair. He made his way over to the window, looking out at the normal people outside, going about their daily business. It was something he had always wanted himself, but it was always just out of reach on the other side of the glass.

"Then what are you saying?"

"I mean that maybe we should call it quits. Pack all this in. This whole hunter business, it's not for kids. I never wanted this life, it was forced on us by our Dad. I don't want to do that to Madi. She's not safe in this world." He turned to look at his brother behind him. "Will you come with us?"

"Dean..." He glanced towards the door as it popped open, spotting Madison's doctor in the doorway.

"This is my brother." Dean stepped forwards to greet the woman. "Where's Madi? Is she okay?"

"Please, take a seat." She ushered the anxious father over to the chairs, waiting for him to sit down, before she started to explain. "Your daughter had a very severe subdural haematoma. The impact of the fall caused bleeding on her brain. The blood was trapped between her skull and her brain, so it started crushing her brain. I think you got her here just in time though. We performed burr holes surgery. It's a procedure where we drill holes in the skull to relieve the pressure of the haematoma. Her vital signs look good, but she's not out of the woods yet. There could be damage, we won't know until she wakes up. She's also fractured her left forearm. It'll take a while to heal, but we've set the bone."

"Can I see her?" Dean immediately climbed to his feet.

"Of course." The doctor motioned towards the door, leading him down the hall to the room where Madison was recovering. She had a million more things to explain to him, but Dean lost all focus after he saw her little head wrapped in bandages. He brushed his fingers across her little digits sticking out the end of the cast, perching himself on the edge of her bed.

He didn't know how his father could have forced him into this life when he was as small as her.

She was still so innocent. She didn't deserve any of this.

* * *

**Thank you for reading! Hope you're still enjoying this story. Please let me know what you thought.**

**Have a great weekend!**

**~ Holly**


	10. Chapter Nine: Moving On

**Chapter Nine: Moving On**

"What do you think?" Wheeling the push bike round to the front of the house, Dean kicked the stand up, showing it off to Bobby on the front porch. "For Madi, not me. There's no way I'd ever trade in my baby. But for Madi, when she starts up school again. I'll have to teach her how to ride it obviously, but a lick of paint, a few touch ups... it'll look good, won't it?"

Bobby examined the rusty frame and flat tires of the thing, giving the man a slight nod. "Yeah, I guess it'll be alright." He scratched his bearded chin. "Dean, have you been up the hospital today? Or eaten. Or slept... recently?"

"I was with Madi until four this morning. I got some sleep in my car." He dusted down the frame of the bike. "The doc isn't so worried about the swelling on her brain anymore. She's eating, talking, walking... they think she'll be able to come home soon."

"Dean, you know this pursuit of your apple pie life, you can't do that and still go out hunting every night. I saw, Sam." He confessed, opening the cooler beside him to grab the man a cold one. "You weren't with Madi last night. I know, because I was and she kept asking where you were."

"Dad's gone again." Dean grabbed the beer from his hands, taking a seat on the steps. "I can't lose Sam too. I went with him on another hunt. Another demon possession. They're popping up all over the place now, Bobby. We gotta do something about this."

"You can't be half in, half out, Dean."

"Sam won't come with me." He took a swig of his beer, looking up at Bobby beside him. "I brought him back into this. I feel responsible for him still. I can't just leave him to hunt on his own. He always wanted out. He finally got out and I dragged him back into this. I can't just leave him."

"And Madi?" Bobby asked him. "Where does she fit into this?"

"I don't know." Dean combed his fingers through his hair, taking another sip of his beer. "It was easier when it was just, Sam and me. That's always been my one job. Look out for Sammy. I can't look out for him and live an apple pie life with Madi." He sighed softly, climbing off the steps. "I think maybe that you were right before, about Madi being better off without us."

"So, what are you gonna do?"

Dean shrugged his shoulders together. "Doesn't social services deal with this kinda thing all the time? We can just tell them the truth. Her mother's gone. Her father's gone. She doesn't have anybody else." He could see the disappointment on Bobby's face, but he didn't see any other choice at the moment.

"You're right, if you're gonna ditch her every chance you get," Bobby climbed to his feet, pulling open his front door. "She's better off without you."

Sighing softly, Dean turned to look at the rusty old bike behind him, realising how awful it looked. He kicked it over, stomping his foot on the flat tire once it was down. He tossed the beer aside, charging towards his car like a man on a mission. He drove himself off to the hospital, deciding that he actually had to see her face to face before he made his decision.

He hadn't been to see her in three days now, so he needed to see how she was doing anyway.

When he arrived though, Sam was already in her room. He hid behind the frame of the door to watch them, smiling to himself as they played a round of cards on her tray table. He didn't even know that Sam was still visiting her. He thought he would be long gone on his mission to find their father by now, but he was in no hurry to leave Madison's side.

"You beat me again." Sam chuckled softly, dropping his cards on the table. "I swear you're cheating, that's three times in a row now."

"You're just too slow." Madison adjusted herself against the pillow behind her, cradling her broken arm against her chest. "Snap is easy and I'm playing with one arm." She pointed out to him, sitting forwards to take her next set off him.

"I think you're just better than me at this game." Sam pulled his chair a little closer, giving the child in front of him a smile. "Okay, ready?" He got his cards ready, giving her a nod before they started placing their cards down one by one. He kept his pace slow so she could keep up with her one good hand, ignoring the first set of double cards so she could grab them.

"Snap!" She giggled, picking up the cards. She glanced towards the door as she saw a familiar face, smiling widely at the sight of the man. "Dean."

Sam turned towards the door, giving his brother a smile. "Hey, Dean."

"Hi." Dean shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, joining them by the bed. He noticed the bandages from Madison's head had finally gone, revealing the little shaved patches of stitching to her head, where they drilled into her skull. "Room for one more?" He grabbed himself a chair, taking a seat the other side of her bed.

"Sure." Sam split his deck, sliding half the cards over to his brother. "Better watch out for Madi though. She has lightening reflexes. Even with one arm." He smiled at her, playing a few more rounds with them. "So the doc said that Madi is about ready to blow this joint. She could go home as early as tomorrow."

"Tomorrow. Snap." Dean whistled, collecting up his winnings from the table. "What do you wonna do when you get out?"

"Pizza." She immediately answered. "Hospital food is gross."

"I'm with you there." Dean agreed with her, placing down the first card. He watched her excitedly placing her cards down one by one, realising he'd miss her smile if he let her go. He didn't know if she'd end up with a nice family or a foster home. She could end up with demons for all he knew. Her father could have pissed off a lot of demons during his time as a hunter, his father certainly had, so he figured she really was safer with him.

At least for now.

"So you finally decided to stop by?" Sam joined his brother out in the hall, while a nurse was topping up Madison's pain medication. "Even Bobby managed to find the time to visit her."

"I know, Sam." Dean put his back to the wall, giving out a soft sigh. "I don't know what I'm doing anymore. Between you, Dad and Madison. I feel like I don't know what's right anymore. Dad barely escaped that warehouse with his life, but the first thing he does is go straight after that yellow eyed son of a bitch again. You keep saying that Dad's obsession with this demon is ruining our lives, but I know you want to kill it just as much as he does, you're just too stubborn to admit it. I get it though, I do. This thing killed, Jess and it did something to you when you were a baby, but that doesn't mean it has to ruin your whole life. Going out there every day hunting every demon you can find makes you just as obsessed as him."

"You don't have to come along, Dean." His brother folded his arms across his chest. "You're Dad's good little soldier, not mine."

"Yeah, I do." Dean sighed, wondering why he still didn't get that. "You're my brother, Sam. You're still my responsibility. Even if you weren't, you're still the only family I've got."

"I'm not a little kid anymore." Sam argued. "I can do this myself."

"I can't quit this if you're still in it, Sam. When you were hunting with Dad, it didn't worry me as much. Hunters who go at it alone don't last long enough to tell their tales. We've only survived these past two years, because we've had each other to watch our backs." Dean pushed himself off the wall, turning his brother's attention towards the child in the other room. "You chose to save her, Sam. You were the one who told me that we couldn't leave her. Well I haven't, but we can't keep her in this life. She almost died because of it."

"So quit. If this mission doesn't mean anything to you anymore, then just quit. You don't need my permission. But I'm staying." Sam warned him, handing him the box of cards from his hands, before he made his way off down the hall.

As he made his way outside, he noticed a familiar car in the parking lot. It was pretty empty, so he noticed it right away. His father's truck. He hurried towards it, hoping to see him again after his disappearance a few weeks ago, but it was empty and locked up tight.

"Dad?" He spun around, charging back towards the hospital. He searched the corridor he had just walked down, taking a quick glance at each of the rooms, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Sammy, are you okay?" Dean noticed him returning. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Just Dad." Sam brought his brother over to the window, showing him the truck outside. It was still in its spot, so he figured he had to be somewhere in the hospital. "Do you think he's here to check up on us or her?" He motioned over his shoulder. "We haven't heard from him in weeks. How'd he know where to find us?"

"Are you sure it's his?" He saw the look in his brother's eyes as he whipped his head round to look at him. "C'mon, Sam. Dad can't be the only guy in the world who has one of those trucks. It could be anybody's."

"There's a shotgun on the front seat and a devils trap in the back." Sam rolled his eyes. "I know Dad's car, Dean." He glanced out the window as some people started walking about, but none of them looked like his father. "If you don't believe me, fine. I'll look for him on my own."

"We've been looking for him for the better part of two years!" Dean called after his brother, sighing softly as he took off through the double doors. He turned his attention towards, Madison's room as the cute young nurse finally stepped out, seeing a smile spread across her lips as she caught his attention.

In normal circumstances, he would have chased her down the hall for her number or something, but another girl had stolen his heart.

"So Madi," He took a seat on the reverse facing chair beside her, resting his hands against the back. "Are you okay with going back to Bobby's after we get out of here or do you think we should look for our own place?"

"Is Sam coming?" She immediately asked.

"I don't know." Dean shrugged his shoulders, pulling the pack of cards out of his pocket. "I think Sam still wants to find our Dad. The yellow eyed demon they're hunting did a lot of bad things to our family. I dragged him into this whole hunting thing again and he lost someone... so he feels like our Dad's mission is his now."

"Can we go with him?" Madison asked, seeing the look in the man's eyes. "What?"

"Madi," Firmly holding the deck of cards in his hands, Dean looked up at her, trying to explain, "It's too dangerous for you to hunt with us anymore. This last time almost got you killed. These things that we hunt kill people every day without a second thought. Being a hunter is what I was raised to be, but I never really liked it. My father didn't give me a choice. After our Mom died, he raised us to fight. He was just so hell bent on revenge for this thing that he didn't see us as his kids anymore. He saw us as soldiers for his crusade against the demon. I still remember what it was like to be a normal kid and I want you to have that. I'm sure your Dad would have wanted that for you too. He just loved you too much to leave you where it would be safe. Trying to raise you, like my Dad raised me is gonna get you killed."

Madison tilted her head to the side, looking at Dean's white knuckles as he clutched the deck of cards. "Are you leaving me?" The eight year old queried, sounding more than a little scared about the prospect of being left on her own again.

"No." Dean quickly shook his head. "Definitely not. No chance in hell. But you can't be a part of this hunter lifestyle anymore. And if you can't, then I'm gonna have to give it up too, so I can keep you safe. We have to go off the grid. Somewhere away from it all, where they can't get to us. I mean you're a pain in the ass." He gave her a playful jab. "But it looks like we're stuck with each other, kid."

"I'll watch your back." Madison smiled at him.

A grin twitched on Dean's lips. He looked down at the cards in his hands, finally beginning to shuffle, before he dealt them out. He had no idea where they were going to go that was so off the grid demons couldn't find them, but he had to think of something if she was getting out of hospital as early as tomorrow.

After years of having to watch out for Sammy, acting like a parent to him before he had even reached the age of sixteen. Dean figured the last thing he ever would have wanted was to be a parent himself. He never liked being responsible for another person. He never got to act like a kid, he always had to be the responsible one. Make sure Sam ate his dinner. Make sure he got enough sleep. Help him with his homework. Give him a bath. Keep him safe.

Watch out for Sammy!

He wished so many times that he was the youngest so Sam would have to shoulder some of the burden, but he was actually looking forward to taking on his role of Madison's pseudo father once again.

No one was forcing him to do it this time, he wanted to keep her safe. She wasn't the only one who would benefit from a normal apple pie life. Keeping her safe would bring him back some sense of normality. Something he had been missing since he was four years old.

Now, he just had to figure out where they could be normal and safe.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Just the epilogue to go now.**

**~ Holly**


	11. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Apple Pie Life.

Reaching his hand out for the obnoxious alarm clock beside him, Dean clicked it off, reading the time. Seven am. He wished he could sleep in for just a few extra hours, but he had to get up and get ready. He kicked back the covers, brushing the sleep from his eyes, before he struggled to get up. He found his way to the bathroom first, checking the salt at the window, before he turned towards the mirror. He brushed his thumb across the stubble on his jaw line, looking at the black circles beneath his eyes and his pillow creased hair.

"I hate Monday's."

Dean took a quick shave, getting close enough to his skin to shred it with his busted old razor. He would buy a new one, but his money seemed to be going in all directions at the moment. He had bills to pay at the end of the week. A kid that needed new trainers. Food that didn't consist of greasy burgers or freshly baked pie and a frigging dog. Why he agreed to take that thing in, he had no idea.

The man jumped in the shower after brushing his teeth, barely having enough time to soap up, before his second alarm started beeping. He hated schedules, but he had to get a move on. He rushed to get dressed, stumbling right over the dog outside his bedroom door.

"You have a perfectly good bed downstairs." He shouted at the thing, rushing to the bedroom down the hall. He gave the door a quick tap with his knuckles, not surprised to see Madison still sleeping in. "C'mon, Madi." He swept the curtains open, flooding light into the room. "Wakey, wakey." He tapped the end of her bed, watching her rolling away from the light to try and get just a few more minutes. "Madi, we gotta get a move on. C'mon, it's Monday."

"Son of..." The child muttered, hiding her eyes from the light, not ready to face the world yet.

"Breakfast will be ready in five minutes. If you're not ready by then, it's going in the trash." Dean threatened her, tripping over some clothes left beside her bed. He sighed as he bent down to scoop them up, throwing them in the laundry hamper that was literally a step away from where she left them.

Hurrying down the stairs, Dean checked the lock on the front door, making sure his devil's traps beneath the carpets hadn't been disturbed, before he made his way through to the kitchen. He grabbed the dog's dish from the floor, taking a quick look through the tins of food, before he selected the grilled chicken in gravy.

"You better enjoy this. You eat better than I do." He set the bowl down, ruffling his hand through the dog's fur. "Lucky, son of a bitch." He turned towards the fridge, realising he hadn't shopped yet. At least three of the shelves were empty, besides the mouldy sandwich Madison had thrown in there a few weeks ago and the smallest amount of milk left in the bottle. "Madison!" He shouted, kicking the fridge door shut with his frustration. "Hurry up!" He made his way towards the stairs to see if she was up yet, but he couldn't hear any movement.

Just as he was about to storm up them to wake her up again, there was a knock at the door behind him.

"Great, that's all I need." Dean turned to open it.

Before he even got hold of the latch, the dog came barrelling out of the kitchen, giving out a territorial bark as he charged for the door. He had learned to trust the dog's instincts, so he grabbed for his stashed gun in the cabinet beside the door, making sure it was loaded, before he reached for the latch to open it.

"Dean... whoa," The woman jumped back as the dog lunged forwards. She was grateful for Dean's lightening reflexes, grabbing the collar of the dog before he even passed the threshold. "Well, someone's in a bad mood this morning. Hi, Lucky." She spoke to the dog, lifting her gaze to Dean's. "Car pool." She reminded him, seeing the confusion on his face. "It's your day to take the kids."

Dean peered around the woman, seeing the kids stood in his driveway. He removed the gun from behind the door, quickly tucking it into the waistband of his jeans. "Right, uh... give me a minute." He closed the door on her, leading the dog back to the kitchen. "Son of a bitch." He sighed, stashing the gun in the cutlery drawer. He made a quick sweep of the downstairs to make sure there weren't any other weapons out, before he pulled open the front door again.

"Are you feeling okay, Dean?" The woman in her late thirties gave him a suspicious look. She was the definition of a soccer Mom to him. She drove the car, had the flat tire around her stomach and always stuck her nose into everyone else's business.

"I'm fine." He nodded, ushering the kids inside. "You're picking them up, right?"

"Either me or my husband." She nodded, making her ridiculously large earrings jangle. "See yah, Dean. Bye, kids. Be good." She waved off her children, waddling across the street to her own car. She had three children of her own, making her insane in Dean's books. The youngest was nearly two, so she had to drive him off to day care first, leaving Dean with Trixie and Basil.

Not dogs, but they certainly sounded like dogs names when he was first introduced to them.

"Go in there." Dean motioned them through to the front room. He had a sofa and a coffee table, but other than that, the room was pretty empty. He put the only television set they owned in his room to help him sleep, so the kids just had to sit and wait. "I'll be right back." He left them alone a moment, taking the stairs two at a time back to Madison's bedroom. He gave the door another knock, finding her right where he left her. "Madison, c'mon. We have to get moving." He resorted to gently shaking her this time.

"I'm tired." She groaned, struggling to sit up. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as Dean fetched her some clothes from her wardrobe, catching them as he threw them at her chest. "I don't like this skirt."

"Tough, you're wearing it." He threw a cardigan at her too, making his way to the door. "We don't have time for breakfast anymore. Thanks for reminding me I'm doing the car pool today." He remarked. "Get dressed. We're leaving in two minutes."

Madison muttered something under her breath as he left, quickly examining the clothes he had given her. She really didn't like the skirt, but she pulled it on anyway, along with the t-shirt and cardigan he had given her. She grabbed her toothbrush and school backpack on her way out the door, hurrying down the stairs after him, before he started shouting her name again.

When they parted ways with Sam a few months ago, Dean left his beloved Impala in his younger brother's hands, knowing her place was on the road hunting evil things. Unfortunately, that meant he had to find himself a new car. Instead of going the soccer Mom route, he picked a four wheel drive SUV truck. There was plenty of space for four people and he didn't feel like a total loser driving it around.

Dean assisted the neighbours kids into the back of the car first, grabbing his overalls he needed for work, along with the dog, before he lifted Madison into the front passenger seat. The school was only a few blocks away, but they arrived just after the bell rang.

Madison held her hand out to him before she got out, waiting expectantly for something. "Lunch money." She reminded him.

"Oh." Dean rifled through his pockets, finding his wallet. He gave the money grabber a few bills, giving her a quick hug. "Hey, Madi." He wound down the window as soon as she was out. "You got everything?"

Madison tapped her backpack, making sure she had her supplies. She gave the man a nod, before she hurried into the school building after the other kids.

Dean stayed to make sure she actually made it inside, before he drove off in the other direction for work. He let the dog out of the back, unlocking the garage door to his place of work. A mechanic. He was the only mechanic in their small town, so he got a lot of business. He liked working solo at the moment, but if business kept up like this, he'd have to hire someone to give him a hand.

Before he could get started on work, Dean had to inspect his safety measures. The salt lines weren't broken and the devils trap was undisturbed, but the back door was unlocked. He knew he locked it. He remembered doing it.

Dean pulled the gun from his waistband, pulling the door open slowly. He examined the lock, noticing distinct scratch marks around the keyhole, indicating that someone had picked their way inside. The place was empty, so he stepped outside into the back alley, smiling to himself as he saw a familiar object.

"Hey, baby." He ran his hand across it's smooth black surface, groaning as he noticed the damage to her door. "Oh baby, what's he done to you?" He knelt down, brushing his fingertips across the damage to her paintwork.

But that wasn't even the worst part.

Dean made his way round to the back, feeling his heart sinking as he saw how busted she was. It looked as though someone had purposely taken a tire iron to it or something. He clutched the handle of the gun, muttering a death threat to whoever did this to her, before his brother appeared, holding his ribs.

"Sammy." He breathed a sigh of relief. He moved straight in to hug his long lost brother, feeling him flinch and groan after a moment. "What the hell happened to you?" He pulled back to check on him. "I've got supplies inside."

"Thanks." Sam put his arm around his brother's shoulder, letting him lead him inside. "We thought it was a Wendigo."

"We?" Dean assisted him into a chair, quickly routing through his cupboards for his first aid kit. "You're hunting with someone?"

"Bobby." Sam nodded, pulling his shirt away from his chest. It stung like hell as the blood from his wound had stuck itself to his shirt while he was driving, but it didn't look as bad as it felt. "There were reports of multiple bear attacks out in Colorado. That's where you and I killed our first Wendigo, so we figured that it had to be another one. But it was worse."

"Did you gank it?" He coated the cloth in his hands with alcohol, before he started cleaning the wound on his brother's chest. "Sorry." He noticed him wince.

"Bobby figured out how to kill it. Silver knife through the heart. But then we found more." Sam gritted his teeth together, tilting his head back against the chair. He watched his brother expertly cleaning the wound, before he got out a thread and needle to sow him up. "It reproduces by biting people. Turns out that all the people that got bit, turned into one of them and started slaughtering their own families. It hatched right out of the hosts."

Dean immediately took a step back from him, looking a little worried.

"It's a scratch, Dean. From its claws. Only the bites turn people into them." He assured him, finally looking around the garage he was in. "Nice place. Is it all yours?"

"Yeah, the guy who owned it before retired. He gave me a good deal, but he comes by to check on me all the time. Don't change the subject." Dean realised what he did, making his first stitch. "One of these things scratched you. You killed the son of a bitch, right? Where's Bobby? Why didn't he fix you up?"

"Rufus called him. More of these things were popping up all over Kansas. I told him to go. One of these can turn into ten over night." Sam tried to remain as still as possible, but it was very hard to do with a needle being threaded through his skin. "I'm sorry, one of them got to your car."

"I noticed." Dean rolled his eyes, cutting off the last bit of thread. "That should hold." He grabbed some bandages, handing his brother the rest of the alcohol bottle to dull the pain a little. "So you managed to kill all these things here?"

"Yeah, we burnt their bodies out in the woods. No one else reported any bites and I knew you were nearby, so I figured I'd come here to find some supplies. I just got the lock open when I heard a car pull up. I didn't know if it was you at first." He glanced towards the dog sat in the doorway and the SUV parked on the road. "What the hell is that thing you're driving anyway?"

"It's better than a minivan." Dean secured the bandage into place, packing up his kit.

Sam quickly dropped his shirt into place, motioning his brother's attention towards the old man hobbling into the building.

"Fred." He called out the nosy old man's name, quickly hiding the blood soaked cloth under the work bench. He shoved the gun into the waistband of his jeans, quickly wiping his fingers down his shirt, going to greet the man. "Morning, Fred. Oh, this is my brother, Sam." He motioned towards the man on the chair. "He's just visiting from out of town. Sam, this is Fred, the guy who built this place up from the ground."

"Hello, sir." Sam struggled to sit up straight, hoping he wouldn't see the blood soaking through his shirt. With the thick framed glasses he had pressed against his face though, he was surprised he could see anything at all.

Sam sat patiently as his brother talked over the business with him, smiling to himself as he really was in his element in a place like this.

When the nosy old man finally decided to leave, Dean turned back to his brother, giving him a slight smile. "He still kinda owns the place."

"What was the good deal he gave you then?" Sam gave him a confused look.

"Working at this place and his son's old house. He's alright." Dean popped the hood of the nearest car, getting back to work before his boss docked his wages again. "His son was killed in a motorcycle accident three years ago. He was supposed to take on the business once Fred retired." He straightened up, looking at the expression on his brother's face. "His wife makes the most amazing pie I've ever tested. It is to die for."

Sam smirked, shaking his head at his brother. "You've really built a life for yourself here, Dean."

"It's alright." Dean shrugged his shoulders. "Madi likes it, I guess. She got into a few fights at school our first few weeks. But she seems alright now."

"So did we." His brother reminded him. "Remember what it was like, always having to start a new school being the outsider. The other kids always picked up on that. You bailed me out of more fights than I can remember."

"That's because I've always got your back, Sammy."

Sam smiled back at his brother, greeting the dog as he finally made his way over to him. He was surprised his brother would actually agree to having a dog, but at least it wasn't a little Jack Russell or something. He managed to convince Madison to go for something more ferocious looking at the shelter, getting away with an all black German Shepherd, rather than the golden retriever she had her eye on.

He still had to name it Lucky, but at least he got a guard dog out of the deal.

"Hey." Dean handed him a spare wrench. "Are you sticking around?" He motioned over his shoulder to the other cars that needed working on.

"What's in it for me?"

"Dinner." Dean suggested the first thing that came to his mind. "And I won't kill you for letting my baby get so messed up. We've got a spare room back at the house if you want somewhere to crash too. You'll need a few days to get back on your feet after something like that."

Sam looked at the wrench in his hands for moment, before he pushed himself to his feet. "Okay. I'll stay for a few days. At least to see how you and Madi are getting on." He agreed with him, getting to work on the other car. He wasn't quite as good as his brother, but their father had taught them both the basics, just in case anything ever happened to them on the road.

By the end of his usual shift, Dean and Sam had at least three of the four cars ready for the owners to pick up. He didn't want to leave his baby out in the alley all night, so he brought her into the shop, locking her up tight, before he covered her with a sheet of tarp.

Sam watched from the street as his brother tucked the car up for the night, smiling to himself as he hadn't changed a bit. He climbed into the passenger seat of Dean's SUV once he had locked the place up for the night, pushing back the dog as he tried to lean through the seats to lick him.

"Madi make that for you?" He noticed a multi coloured beaded bracelet dangling from the rear view mirror.

"Yeah. A Matching necklace too." Dean grinned at him, pulling his seatbelt on over his shoulder. He glanced at his younger brother, glaring at him until he did the same. "Did you get everything you need from the car?"

Sam pointed over his shoulder to his duffel on the back seat. He was interested to see where Dean had been living during these past few months away from him. He wasn't expecting the place to look so suburban, but it reminded him a little of the pictures he had seen of their real home back in Lawrence, Kansas.

It even had the large deciduous tree outside, sending a chill down his spine.

Sam waited for Dean to pull up in the driveway, before he attempted to get out. He was suddenly forced back by something, reminding himself that he had been forced to wear a seatbelt for the first time in... ever. He quickly unstrapped it, grabbing his bag from the back, while he looked up at the house.

"Lucky." Dean whistled, letting the dog out of the car. He made his way towards the front door, using his key to let Sam inside. "Make yourself at home. I'll be right back." He motioned across the street.

Sam gave him a nod, ushering the dog inside with him. He clicked the hallway light on, looking around at the empty hallway. There was a small coat hanging up beside the door. A pair of biker boots stood beneath it, but other than that, the hallway was pretty spotless.

He followed the dog into the front room, clicking the light on in there. The wallpaper was peeling a little around the edges and the only furniture inside was a coffee table and a torn up leather sofa. He turned on his heels, inspecting the kitchen next. There was a little more sign of life in there, but most of the cupboards were empty and the fridge didn't actually contain any edible food.

So far not impressed.

Sam turned towards the stairs, finding a bathroom equipped with all the basics, relieved that they at least had toilet paper. He found a room beside that, guessing that it was Madison's by the theme. Unlike the rest of the house, her room had been painted in a soft lilac colour. She had a wardrobe stocked full of clothes against the wall, a desk covered with beads, crayons and drawings. He noticed a photograph set on top of it, picking it up to take a closer look.

Madison was on the school soccer team. She was dressed in the school soccer uniform, with her left foot balancing on a soccer ball. Behind her was a proud looking father, only it was his brother. He didn't recognise him at first as he looked so plain and normal. He looked just like the average Joe kinda guy. The guy he had wanted to be his whole life.

Sam set down the photo, turning towards the other side of the room. Her bedside table was stacked with story books, making him wonder if his brother actually read to her at night. They were fairytales too, not the monster books or hunter diaries that they grew up reading.

"Sam!" He heard his brother's voice echoing through the house.

Sam took a quick peek at the other two rooms, guessing the biggest was Dean's. It wasn't as messy as he thought it would be, but he had a devil's trap on the floor, television set angled towards the bed and a knife under his pillow.

He hurried down the stairs before Dean came looking for him, smiling as he found the man knelt down at the foot of the stairs with the little girl. He unzipped the green jacket she was wearing, listening to her excitedly talking about her day, just like any normal kid after a day out.

"Sam!" She excitedly called out his name.

"Hey, Madi." He made it to the bottom of the stairs, before she jumped into his arms. "I've missed you too. You look taller."

"I'm nine next month." Madison proudly stated.

"Nine." Sam grinned widely, lowering her to the floor. "Wow, that's pretty cool. One step closer to ten. Are you doing anything for your birthday?"

"Dean said we can go rock climbing."

"Rock climbing." He glanced at his brother, smirking as he knew full well that his big brother was afraid of heights. "That should be fun."

"It's not what you think." Dean hung their jackets up. "It's one of those centres. It's all indoors and the walls don't go that high. She missed the school trip there, so I said that... maybe, we could do it for her birthday. Maybe." He repeated himself, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "I'm gonna order dinner. Any preference?"

"Pizza!" Madison declared, taking hold of Sam's hand. "Can I show you my room, Sam?"

"Sure." Sam watched his brother going through the fast food menus tacked to the fridge, before he followed the child up the stairs to her room. She definitely seemed to be thriving a lot better in this environment away from the hunter business, but he was still worried that Dean wasn't cut out for this fatherhood gig.

He took a quick tour of Madison's bedroom with her, before she crashed against the bed to show him the new video game that Dean had bought for her.

"Hey." Sam made his way downstairs after an hour or so, finding his brother cutting up the pizza with a pair of scissors. "The place looks good, Dean."

"But?" Dean sensed it coming, ditching the scissors in the sink, before he grabbed them some plates. "C'mon Sammy, speak your mind. I sense a lecture coming anyway. It's written all over your face, so just get it over with, will yah?" He pulled open the cutlery drawer, grabbing them some knives and forks, rather than eating with their fingers like they were used to.

"This place looks great." Sam took a seat at the table in the middle of the kitchen. "But it's not exactly the apple pie life that you wanted. You're still eating pizza out of a box, Dean."

"It's not every night, Sam. You just caught us on an off day. I can cook and everything now." He glanced up as Madison came in the room. "Hey Madi, tell Sam I can cook."

"Not well." Madison took a seat beside, Sam with the handheld video game console in her hands.

Sam chuckled softly, grabbing the plate his brother was offering to him. "Thanks. And the business, are you gonna suck up to that old guy all your life?"

"He gave us the house, Sam." Dean set a plate down in front of Madison, snatching up the game console from her hands. She gave out a groan, reluctantly taking the cutlery off his hands. "We only have to pay half the utilities and his wife makes us free meals every weekend, you can't get better than that. If that means I have to put up with him stopping by to inspect my work every day, I don't care. Is that why you came here? To see how I was screwing this up." He set the pizza box in the middle of the table, finally taking his own seat.

"No." Sam assured him, letting Madison grab the first slice. "It's a good start."

"What are you social services or something?" Dean rolled his eyes, handing out the napkins, before he grabbed himself a slice of pizza. "She's got a bed to sleep in. Clean clothes, warm water, fresh towels and almost three meals a day. Today just happens to be an off day. Happy now?"

"If you two are gonna fight, can I eat in my room?" Madison asked.

"No." Dean barked with a mouthful of pizza. "Eat your pizza."

Madison sighed softly, resting her elbow against the table.

"I didn't mean anything by it. I'm sorry, Dean." Sam made the first move, lifting his pizza up by the crust. He caught Madison looking at him a moment, before she decided to do the same, slopping the pizza sauce down her chin. He chuckled softly, grabbing her napkin for her before a pepperoni slice landed in her lap.

"One day with her and you're teaching her bad manners." Dean rolled his eyes at him.

After dinner, Dean handled the dishes, while Sam crashed on the sofa with Madison, playing her game with her. The more time he spent with her, the more he realised how different she was to that child that they first discovered nearly a year ago. He never would have pictured this outcome when they first found her, but it was certainly better than the alternative.

"Madi's all tucked up for the night." Sam stepped off the stairs, joining his brother in the front room. "She said can you charge this for her." He handed over the handheld console to Dean.

"I can barely get her off that thing most nights." He smirked, plugging it in beside him. "You're not staying?" He noticed Sam's duffel out in the hall again, rather than upstairs in the spare room.

"I think I should head out." Sam nodded, awkwardly stuffing his hands in his pockets. "You have a good life here, Dean. I don't wonna ruin that by sticking around too long. Maybe when yellow eyes is gone, I'll join you. But I can't even think about all this with him still out there. And I'm not doing it for Dad or his mission..."

"Jess." Dean interrupted him, giving him an understanding nod. "I'll fix up the Impala for you. I'll let you know when she's ready. You can take my truck for now. I can get another one."

"Dean, just one piece of advice." Sam stepped closer to his brother. "Ease up a little. The devil's traps and the weapons all over, you're still on edge. You're safe here. You've got a good life, just try to live it. You deserve this apple pie life that you're always talking about, but you're never going to be able to appreciate it if you're always on edge."

Sam gave his brother a smile, turning for his bag in the hall. He grabbed the keys to Dean's truck, giving the house one last look, before he stepped out the door.

"Hey, Sam." Dean called after his brother, before he disappeared down the driveway and out of his life again. "Don't be a stranger. We're always here."

* * *

**The End**

**Thank you for every single review, favourite, follow and private message to this story. I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. I currently have no future plans for more Supernatural stories. I first started this story back in November, 2014 so I hope it still made sense.**

**Reviews and PM's are always much appreciated.**

**Shout outs to **EmilyAnnMcGarrett-Winchester, seethemstars, zacharytack32, Hailstorm3, JackBoy15, Ellie Mae Winchester-Kirk, Mal42, NutellaLover13, SamA18, alltin, artemisz, goanago, krabbycow1110, Susiii, CJb, anamarie63, delacre, maryicka, newageofmusic101, Lindsey2801, malinmichelle, beautifulwhiterose, AshleyG firstcatfish, skylight12, .winchesterxox** and various Guest readers/reviewers.**

**Thank you!**

~ Holly


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